Sticky Gooey Ginger Cake

We like ginger... but not so much in the form of ginger cake! A little bit of ginger in our cakes and sweets is fine for us but I would never add this much ginger into a small cake...

Why am I baking this cake? Because I was asked to.

Our auntie J loves ginger cake. She is craving and seeking for a moist and flavoursome kind of ginger cake but can't find anything that she wants in most cake shops in Singapore. She eventually gives up searching and requested me, the baking woman of our family to bake her this super ginger-y cake and transport the cake back to Singapore.

This English-traditional and well-reviewed ginger cake by BBC Good Food is the kind of ginger cake recipe that I am after. This BBC recipe originally uses stem ginger which is young ginger that has been peeled and preserved in sugar syrup. 

Being "lazy", I didn't search for this English ingredient in Melbourne and assumed that I can substitute this with crystallised ginger. Having said that, I actually didn't substitute stem ginger with crystallised ginger in this bake. Our auntie J didn't like her cake too sweet and wants her cake to be fully packed with ginger flavours and so we baked this cake with fresh ginger instead!

My son and I love auntie J and very happy baking this cake for her. Despite all the love that we have given to this cake, we didn't like the strong ginger-y smell of this cake and kept the whole cake for auntie J. So, did auntie J like this cake?... Yes, she loves it! She actually keep it in her freezer and limits herself to eat only one slice in every few weeks, hoping that her ration will last her until our next Singapore trip - Poor auntie J!

Now, we know... We will bake more of this cake for her in the future.

Sticky gooey ginger cake for auntie J

Look! There is lots of ginger in this cake!

The sugars that enhance the gooey texture of this cake

Mixing the cake batter - Super easy!

Baking the cake

An old-fashion English cake...

Wanna try a slice of this cake?

Nope! Too ginger-y for us! Lucky we don't because auntie J wants them all :D

Seriously, if you are not a very ginger person, please do not try baking this cake with fresh ginger at home. Use stem ginger instead... or unless you are auntie J! - LOL!

Thumb up that we baked well for auntie J

Here's the recipe from BBC Good Food or its apps
(with my notes and modification in blue)

Cake:
225g self-raising flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
(replace with baking powder)
1 tbsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground mixed spice
(I didn't add this)
115g butter, cut into cubes, plus extra for greasing
115g dark muscovado sugar
115g black treacle
(replaced with blackstrap molasses)
115g golden syrup
250ml whole milk
85g drained stem ginger, finely grated
(replaced with fresh ginger, finely grated and pureed)
1 egg

Icing:
50g icing sugar, sifted
1 tsp finely grated lemon zest
1 tbsp lemon juice
(As requested, I was told not to make any icing for this cake.)

Preheat the oven to 180°C or 160°C fan forced. Butter and line an 18cm round, 7cm deep cake tin with greaseproof or parchment paper.

Put the flour, bicarbonate of soda (or baking powder) and all the spices into a large mixing bowl. Add the butter and rub it into the flour with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.

Put the sugar, treacle (or molasses), syrup and milk in a medium saucepan and heat, gently stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Turn up the heat and bring the mixture to just below boiling point.

Add the stem ginger (or fresh ginger) to the flour mixture, then pour in the treacle mixture, stirring as you go with a wooden spoon. Break in the egg and beat until all the mixture is combined and it resembles a thick pancake batter. Pour this into prepared tin and bake for 50-60 mins, until a skewer pushed into the centre of the cake comes out fairly clean. Leave to cool completely in tin before turning cake out. (To freeze: wrap in greaseproof paper, then in cling film. Freeze for up to 1 month.)

To make the icing, mix together icing sugar and lemon zest, then gradually add lemon juice until you have a smooth, slightly runny icing, adding more juice, if needed. Drizzle icing in a zig-zag pattern over surface of cake, turn cake around and drizzle again to create the cross-hatched finish. (I didn't make this icing)

Cake keeps for up to 2 weeks stored in an airtight container.

Note: Using 80% of the recipe with 1 small egg, I have baked this cake with 16cm round cake tin at 160°C fan forced for 60 mins. I didn't reduce the sugar content at all because I used fresh ginger instead of stem ginger to bake this cake.

Happy Baking
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