GINGERCAKE aka Gingerbread

If you're looking for a featherlight delicate sissy sponge.. this isn't it. It's packed with ginger, moist and morish, and after a few days has a lovely sticky top. It's for the hardcore ginger-cakers.

What you need :

An oven pre-heated to 180 degrees.
A tray. It really doesn't matter what size as long as it's oven proof and lined with baking parchment.

1 lb butter
8 oz muscovado
8 oz demarera
1 lb golden syrup
1 pints of water
4 tspn ground ginger
1 oz finely diced stem ginger
1 tspn bicarbonate of soda
2 eggs
1lb 8 oz plain flour
2 oz baking powder

Chuck the first four ingredients into a pan and stir over a mediun heat until almost boiling and the butter has melted. Take off the heat, throw in the cold water and beat in the other ingredients. The mixture will be very thin, but trust me, it should look this way.

Pour the mix into your lined tray and bake for one hour. Chill. At this point it is best to wrap the cake in cling film and stick it in the fridge for at least a couple of days. And this is why... You probably noticed the top of the cake was quite hard, this is because the sugar has floated to the surface during cooking and caramelized. Wrapping and chilling will give the sugar time to dissolve and give a lovely sticky topping.