This sticky gingerbread is perfect if you need to warm up on a cold winter day. Black treacle is used in this recipe to produce darker colour and rich moisture, and is complemented with glistening golden syrup to balance out the flavours.
What makes this sticky gingerbread so special?
- It’s soft, squidgy and loaded with spice
- The flavours deepen the longer you leave it to “mature”
- You can add juicy dates and a caramel glaze to enhance this traybake
Ingredients and alternatives:
- Flour: the best flour to use in this recipe is plain, or cake and pastry flour.
- Spices: this recipe calls for mixed spice and ground ginger, but you could always substitute these with nutmeg, cinnamon, or allspice for a similar warming flavour.
- Egg: you can also use one medium egg instead of one large egg in this recipe.
- Milk: I prefer using whole milk for a fuller, richer flavour, however semi-skimmed or a plant-based alternative like oat milk would work well too.
- Butter: always use unsalted butter for full control over salt content. Never use spreads or margarines as these are made up of milk fats and vegetable oils, giving them a looser consistency which won’t bake well in a cake.
- Black treacle: in the majority of cases, molasses and black treacle can be used interchangeably.
- Golden syrup: while usually not as thick in texture, honey, agave nectar, cane syrup and brown rice syrup are all suitable instead of golden syrup.
- Sugar: this recipe calls for demerara sugar, however dark brown, muscovado or light brown sugar would work well as a substitute.
How you can adapt this sticky gingerbread:
There are a few ways you can enhance this recipe, should you wish to give it an egde. Here are a few ideas:
Add dates and a caramel glaze
- Add 200g stoned dates, finely sliced and a caramel glaze to enhance this traybake
- Heat 100g caster sugar in a heavy-based saucepan melt, increasing the heat until it’s bubbling. Boil for 5-8 minutes until it turns a a deep golden caramel colour.
- Remove from the heat and add 25g salted butter, stirring constantly. Don’t worry if it splits – keep stirring and it will come back together.
- Add 75ml double cream when the butter has melted, then stir until smooth and glossy. Transfer to a bowl, and cool until it has a spreading consistency.
Finish with pomegranates
- Put 75g icing sugar in a bowl, then gradually whisk in a small drizzle of warm water until you have an icing that runs thickly from a lifted spoon. Add the water slowly as you probably won’t need a lot!
- Drizzle the icing over the cake, then scatter over some pomegranate seeds.
Add a layer of buttercream icing
- Use an electric hand whisk to whip 200ml double cream to soft peaks 1tsp ground ginger and 1tsp ground cinnamon.
- Once the traybake has cooled completely, spread over the top and serve.
You can also cut a slice in two and place under the grill like a scone. Lather with lashings of salted butter for a breakfast treat. This is honestly the gooiest, stickiest loaf you’ll ever make.
Sticky Gingerbread
A rich, sticky gingerbread traybake made with black treacle and golden syrup. Perfect for winter days and colder nights.
Ingredients
For the cake
- 450 g plain flour
- 2 tsp mixed spice
- 6 tsp ground ginger
- 3 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- Pinch fine sea salt
- 280 g Chinese stem ginger
- 2 large eggs
- 570 ml whole milk
- 170 g unsalted butter
- 170 g black treacle
- 170 g golden syrup
- 230 g demerara sugar
For the glaze
- 1 tbsp Belvoir ginger cordial
- 150 ml water
- 6 tbsp icing sugar sifted
Instructions
For the cake
- Preheat the oven to 180C and lightly butter a 9 x 13 inch baking tin with high sides. Line the tin with baking parchment or greaseproof paper.
- Sift the flour, spice, bicarb and salt into a mixing bowl. Mix until evenly combined.
- Finely chop the ginger and then add to the spiced flour.
- Beat together the milk and the egg then set aside.
- In a small saucepan, gently heat the butter, treacle, syrup and sugar, stirring occasionally until the butter has melted. Pour the contents in the flour, followed by the milk and egg.
- Beat vigorously with a wooden spoon until smooth and mixed well.
- Pour into your prepared loaf tin and place in the centre of you oven for 30mins. After 30mins, cover with foil and cook for another 30-40mins.N.B. The foil will stop your loaf from burning! It should be well-risen and springy to the touch when it's ready to come out, and a knife should come out clean.
- Leave to cool in the tin for about 15 minutes.
For the glaze
- To make the glaze, blend the ginger cordial, water and sifted icing sugar together in a small bowl. Prick the top of the cake all over with a skewer and pour over the syrup so that it sinks into the cake. Leave to cool completely.
- Once cold, wrap tightly in silver foil – the flavours will increase if left to mature for a few days!
Notes
The batter might look quite liquidy when poured into your tin but don’t worry – in an hour it’ll be a springy sponge oozing with treacle and syrup.
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