Nigel's Double Ginger Cake - Because I ignored St Andrew!

To all you Scots out there, happy feast of St. Andrew! I know so little about him, that to pretend anything else would be a big fat fib. But, no sooner than I made a post about crumpets, a friend of mine has asked for a recipe for ginger cake. It is a good traditional Scottish treat, and should be celebrated today above all days. Andrew was the first of the disciples to be called by Jesus, and perhaps that is why, at the beginning of the Church year, he is also the first to be remembered, martyred on that famous x-shaped cross. If you would like to find out about St. Andrew, Godzdogz have a good post up today, and you can check out the amazing photographs of fr. Lawrence Lew OP and read his well-informed notes.


Nigel's Double Ginger Cake (Yes, he is still my hero)

250 self raising flour
2 level teaspoons of ground ginger
half a teaspoon ground cinnamon
a level teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
a pinch of salt
200g golden syrup
stem ginger in syrup - 3 lumps, about 55g
2 tablespoons of syrup from the stem ginger jar
2 heaped tablespoons of sultanas
125g dark muscavado sugar
2 large eggs
240ml milk

a square cake tim 20 - 22cms, lined with greaseproof paper.

Set the oven at 180C. Sift the flour with the ginger, cinnamon and bicarbonate of soda and salt. Put the Golden Syrup and the ginger syrup and butter into a small saucepan and warm over a low heat. Dice the ginger finely, and add it to the pan with the sultanas and sugar. Let the mixture bubble gently for a minute, giving it the occasional stir to stop the fruit sticking.

Break the eggs into a bowl, pour in the milk and beat gently to break up the egg and mix it into the milk. Remove the butter and sugar mixture from the heat and pour into the flour, stirring smoothly and firmly with a large metal spoon. Mix in the milk and the eggs. The mixture should be sloppy with no trace of flour.

Scoop the mixture into a lined cake tin and bake for thirty five or forty minutes, until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.

Unless you are serving it warm, leave the cake in its tin to cool, then tip it out onto a sheet of greaseproof paper. Wrap it up in foil, and if you can leave it to mature for a day or two before eating. Because this cake is so dark naturally, you might need to cover it during cooking, and keep a very close eye on it to ensure it doesn't burn. :)