I made this gorgeous loaf ages ago, and then completely forgot to write the post about it! It comes from Rachel Allen’s ‘Cake‘ – a fabulous book which the Bakewell Cake that I made a few months ago came from too. If you’re a fan of ginger then you’ll love this – it didn’t last long in our house!

Ingredients (for a 900g/2lb loaf tin)

225g/8oz golden syrup
100g/3.5oz butter
100g/3.5oz caster sugar
75g/3oz stem ginger in syrup, chopped (plus 3 tbsp of syrup for the glaze)
200ml/7fl oz milk
2 eggs, beaten
225g/8oz self-raising flour
1 tbsp ground ginger
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp salt

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas mark 4. Line the base and sides of the loaf tin with baking parchment, with the paper coming above the sides of the tin so that it can be lifted out easily later.

2. Place the golden syrup, butter and sugar in a saucepan and stir over a medium-low heat until the butter has melted and the mixture is smooth. Set aside and allow to cool, then mix in the ginger, milk and eggs.

3. Meanwhile, sift the remaining ingredients into a large bowl. Make a well in the centre, then pour in the wet ingredients and mix thoroughly.

4. Tip the mixture – which will be quite runny – into the prepared loaf tin and bake in the centre of the oven for 50-60 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

5. Remove from the oven and drizzle or brush the reserved stem ginger syrup over the loaf while it’s still hot. Allow to cool for 10 minutes in the tin, then lift the cake out of the tin and place on a wire rack. Peel away the baking parchment and leave to cool down fully.

6. Enjoy with a cuppa!

The post Ginger golden syrup loaf appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

I love baking on a Sunday morning, and as I haven’t done any for a while I thought that today would be a perfect day to try this new recipe! It comes from Paul Hollywood’s ‘How To Bake‘ – I think there was a series of the same name, but even if you haven’t seen it it’s worth getting the book! In the book the gingerbread is served with poached pears, but I haven’t bothered with those here. If you want to have a go at making else from the book, Mr C-C (husband of Daria, my partner-in-craft) has made the pork pies, which went down a treat!

Ingredients (serves 8)

175ml dark treacle
70g caster sugar
250g unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing
50g crystallised ginger, chopped
50g marmalade
250g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
4 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp ground cinnamon
4 medium eggs
175ml full-fat milk (I actually used semi-skimmed milk)
75g creme fraiche

Method

1. Put the treacle, caster sugar, butter, crystallised ginger and marmalade into a saucepan and slowly bring to the boil. Transfer to a large bowl and leave to cool for 30 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, heat your oven to 160C/just under Gas mark 3. Butter a 30 x 20cm baking tin, about 6cm deep, and line with parchment (I don’t own one of these, so I used my brownie pan with a lot of parchment paper up the sides and a loaf tin).

3. Sift the flour, baking powder and spices into a bowl. In another large bowl, whisk the eggs, milk and creme fraiche together. Pour the warm treacle mix into the egg mixture, whisking constantly, then beat in the dry ingredients.

4. Pour the gingerbread mixture into the prepared baking tin and bake for 40-50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Leave to cool until warm (if serving with some creme fraiche as a dessert) or until completely cooled so that it can be stored in an airtight tin.

The post Paul Hollywood’s Gingerbread appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.