I love baking as my waistline will attest. That tea loaf looks lush, so I’ll definitely be having a crack at that.
Did something a while back which isn’t new but was to me. I was making some of the easiest bread in te world to make… soda bread. After weighing out the ingredients I thought I’d split it and in one kept it plain, but to the other I added some sugar, saltanas and mixed spice.
Baked them both and had the best of both worlds, a lovely bread to dunk in me soup or stew and another that sliced with lashings of butter (very nice toasted too) perfect with a cuppa of your choice.
I do a really mean ginger cake too…
Gingerbread with Ginger & Orange Drizzle
Ingredients
175g Unsalted butter
175g Light muscovado sugar
175g Golden syrup
175g Black treacle
175g Self raising white flour
175g Self raising wholemeal flour
1 ½ tsp Ground Ginger
4 tsp Ginger cordial
50g Stem or crystalised ginger, chopped
1 large egg
300ml Whole milk
For the drizzle:
150g icing sugar
½ tsp orange extract
1 tbsp Ginger Cordial
40ml warm water
Method
Preheat your oven to 160°C/Gas 3 and line a 20cm square baking tin with baking parchment.
In a saucepan gently melt the butter, sugar, golden syrup & treacle together, then set aside to cool slightly.
Sift the flours into a bowl and add the ground ginger and crystallised ginger. Pour in the melted butter sugar mixture and stir until combined. Add the Ginger cordial, eggs and milk and beat together.
Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and level with a spatula. Bake in the oven for 45-50 minutes until springy to the touch and a skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool completely.
For the drizzle; sift the icing sugar into a bowl then add the orange extract and ginger cordial, then mix in enough of the water to make a pourable icing that’s not too runny. Pour this over the cooled cake. Leave for about 30 minutes for the icing to set, then cut into squares and serve.
This cake gets more sticky and better after a day or two.
