Recipe of the Week: Iced Ginger Cake
Iced ginger cake is a delicious alternative to banana bread.
This is a lovely alternative to banana bread but is a very similar style.
The ginger gives a lovely sweet and spicy flavour to the cake and then the lemon icing breaks through the spice for an extra layer of delicious sweetness.
It is wonderful sliced and eaten with a cup of tea or coffee and can be toasted after a couple of days and spread with butter and enjoyed like a slice of toast.
- 150g unsalted butter
- 150g soft brown sugar
- 3 free-range eggs, beaten
- 2 tbsp. milk
- 200g self raising flour
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 2 tsp. ground ginger
- 1 tsp. mixed spice
- 75g chopped crystallised ginger
- 150g icing sugar
- Juice of half a lemon
- Extra crystallised ginger to decorate
Preheat the oven to 170oC and butter a 7” round cake pan.
Sieve the flour, mixed spice, ground ginger and baking powder together into a clean dry bowl and set aside.
Beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, and then gradually add the egg and milk and then the flour alternately, folding in gently after each spoonful.
Continue until all the egg and flour is used up. If the mixture is too stiff, add a tablespoon of milk – you want a soft consistency.
Add the chopped crystallised ginger and mix well.
Spoon the cake mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour, until the cake is well-risen, dark golden brown and firm to the touch.
Allow the cake to cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then turn it out onto a wire cooling rack and allow to cool completely before adding the frosting.
To make the icing, add the lemon juice to the sieved icing sugar in a bowl and mix until thick and glossy.
Spoon the icing over the top of the cake and allow it to drizzle down the sides, before adding the pieces of crystallised ginger as decoration.
