GIngerbread is a big deal in my family, a really big deal. My grandmother, Nanna, had a version that was made once a week, a firm family favourite, it is one of those recipes that I will cherish and bake forever. Even though she passed away when I was little I have her handwritten recipe and make it often. It helps that it is incredibly easy to make, a simple wet into dry, muffin style method, and I do love a recipe that massively exceeds in taste the effort required to make it. Whilst I have a lot of loyalty to that recipe for this gingerbread I wanted a slightly different tone, something darker, more intense, something similar to my other favourite gingerbread recipe; the legendary ginger stout cake from Claudia Fleming, a recipe she developed whilst the pastry chef at The Gramercy Tavern. The recipe appears in her out of print of book The Last Course, a copy of which I am lucky to own (it is currently being sold on amazon for £138!). Similarly to Flemings recipe mine is oil based and uses a stout to give extra depth, instead of the usual go-to guinness I went with a chocolate stout. To give a darker, richer flavour I switched my recipe from golden syrup to black treacle and upped the spicing, using a trifecta of ginger in the form of ground, fresh and candied, I wanted this to be a properly fiery gingerbread.
Triple Ginger Bundt Cake
Serves 12-16
340g plain flour
2 tbsp ground ginger
1 tsp mixed spice
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cardamom
1/4 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
1 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
175g vegetable oil
150g light brown sugar
2 tbsp freshly grated ginger
4 tbsp roughly chopped candied ginger
340g black treacle (or molasses)
200ml stout (I used chocolate stout but any stout will work)
2 large eggs
Making this cake really couldn't be easier, simply preheat the oven to 180C (160C fan) and take a a 10-cup bundt pan, I used Nordicware's Kougelhopf pan, and lightly grease, making sure to cover the entire pan right into all of the crevices of the pan. Lightly dust the inside of the pan with a little flour, tapping out any excess.
In a large bowl mix together all of the dry goods. Add the remaining ingredients, except the eggs, into a saucepan and heat over medium heat cooking until the sugar has melted and everything is evenly combined. Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly before whisking in the eggs. Pour the liquid goods over the flour mixture and whisk briefly until smoothly combined. Pour into the prepared bundt pan and place onto a baking tray, baking in the preheated oven for about 45-50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely. If you fancy you can glaze or frost the cake but personally I think a simple dusting of icing sugar works perfectly.
As with all gingerbread recipes this actually improves after a couple days, the flavour gets better and the cake gets stickier.