Michelle Darmody: How to bake the perfect tray bake gingerbread

There are a few variations on the recipe suggested and once you get comfortable with it you can experiment further.

Run, run just as fast as you can, you can’t catch me, I’m the Gingerbread Man.

Gingerbread comes in many different forms, from the crisp biscuits of the gingerbread man to a soft and sticky ginger loaf, or an iced tray bake cake infused with crystalised stem ginger.

This recipe is for the tray bake style; the cake is baked in a square tin which I tend to ice and cut into chunks.

It is nice and dense, and the crystalised ginger adds extra zing to the warmth of the powdered spices.

Ginger is of course the main spice, but it is bolstered by cinnamon and the collection of spices within the cake spice mixture.

Feel free to adjust the amounts of ginger and cinnamon to taste as you get familiar with the recipe.

I find that not all ground spices are the same. It is good to look out for a jar that has been recently ground and has a long shelf life because ground spices tend to lose their strength over time.

You can grind your own cinnamon at home from a piece of cinnamon bark but making your own powdered ginger is a bit trickier as you need to dry out the root of the plant very well before grinding it.

As well as the delicious blend of these warming spices, the dark treacle is the classic ingredient that gives gingerbread its distinctly rich and sweet flavour.

Treacle is made in the process of refining sugar and the black, viscous liquid has a unique and slightly bitter flavour.

There are a few variations on the recipe suggested and once you get comfortable with it you can experiment further.

Gingerbread

recipe by:Michelle Darmody

This recipe is for the tray bake style, the cake is baked in a square tin which I tend to ice and cut into chunks.

Servings

9

Preparation Time

 20 mins

Cooking Time

 50 mins

Total Time

 1 hours 10 mins

Course

 Baking

Ingredients

• 230g self-raising flour

• 1 level tsp bread soda

• 1 level tsp ground ginger

• 1 tsp ground cinnamon

• 1 level tsp cake spice

• 110g cold butter, cubed

• 100g crystallised ginger, chopped

• 280ml milk

• 110g dark muscovado sugar

• 110g treacle

• 110g Golden Syrup

• 1 egg

• For the icing:

• 175g icing sugar, sieved

• 1 tbsp lemon juice

• ½ tbsp water

Method

1. Heat your oven to 180˚C/gas mark 4. Line a 9 -inch square baking tin with parchment.

2. Sieve the flour, bread soda and spices into alarge bowl. Add the cubed butter and rub the butter and flour together until it looks like rough breadcrumbs. Stir in the crystallised ginger.

3. Add the milk, sugar, treacle and Golden Syrup to a saucepan and gently heat, stirring occasionally until everything is combined.

4. Add the milk mixture to the flour mixture and also add the egg. Beat this with a wooden spoon until everything is combined and the batter is smooth.

5. Scoop the batter into your prepared tin and smooth the top with the back of a spoon.

6. Place the tin into the oven and bake for 50minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.

7. Allow to cool in the tin.

8. To make the icing, place all of the ingredients into a large bowl or mixer and combine until the icing is thick but spreadable. You may need to add a little more water.

9. Spread the icing over the cooled gingerbread with a palette knife and leave to set before cutting.

Baker's tips

If the ginger cake dips in the middle it may be because you opened the oven door during baking. Another reason is that the cake batter might be too moist, a little too much milk added.

If your cake comes out dry, there could be a few reasons - Overbaking the cake, overmixing the batter, or the oven being too hot. All ovens are different and can vary slightly from the temperature shown on the dial. If you are suspicious of your oven, you can buy a thermometer that will take a more accurate temperature and you can then adjust your oven dial accordingly.

You do not need to boil the mixture of wet ingredients, just gently heat them until the sugar has dissolved.

Sprinkle the zest of a medium orange over the icing when it is still soft for an extra citrusy burst. After the cake has been iced it will keep for three or four days in an airtight container, but the icing may become sticky over time.

If you want to freeze the cake do not ice it. Wrap it in a layer of baking parchment and a double layer of foil or a freezer bag. To defrost, unwrap the cake and put it on a wire rack at room temperature for 2-3 hours. Cover with the icing before serving.

You can bake the ginger cake a few days ahead if you like. Again, do not ice it, but wrap it in a layer of baking parchment and then tightly with a layer of clingfilm. Put this into an airtight container until you are ready.

4 delicious variations

Golden Raisin & Nut Squares

In place of the crystalised ginger add 100g of golden raisins and sprinkle 30g of nibbed or chopped nuts onto the icing when it is still soft.

Fig & Date Gingerbread

Omit the crystalised ginger and instead add 200g of a mixture of soft dried figs and medjool dates, finely chopped. You could top the cake with cream cheese icing instead of the one included if you want a more decadent result.

Chocolate Chip & Walnut Ginger Cake

Add 100g of dark chocolate chips and 50g of chopped walnuts. You can also cover the cake in chocolate ganache instead of icing if you wish.

Gingerbread Banana Split

I think the banana split is an undervalued dessert. Slice a banana lengthwise and fill it with vanilla ice-cream or whipped cream and top it with a crumbling of gingerbread and a shaving of dark chocolate.