Grannie's sticky ginger cake

Another family recipe for you, to counger up the nostalgia of history's kitchen. My maternal family is known for its fondness for spicy, not too sweet, cakes and biscuits. I can see from Grannie's notes that the original recipe called for about a third of the spices used, and topped the cake with candied fruits not stem ginger. This version is a dark delight, very moreish....


Ingredients

• 50g butter
• 1 rounded tablespoon treacle
• 25g soft brown sugar
• 125g stem ginger, drained of syrup and sliced into thick coins
• 125g self-raising flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3 level teaspoons ground ginger
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon each ground nutmeg and ground cloves
• Pinch salt
• 125g caster sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 125g very soft unsalted butter

Method

• Preheat the oven to 180C/350F
  
• Melt the butter, treacle and sugar in a saucepan.
  
• Arrange the ginger slices on the bottom of a loaf or cake tin (21cm diameter is about right). Pour over the treacle mix and tip the tin from side to side a little to spread the sticky goo over all the ginger.
• Sift the flour, baking powder, spices and salt into a mixing bowl or the bowl of a food processor.
  
• Add the caster sugar, eggs and butter, cubed, and beat thoroughly for 2 minutes until a smooth batter forms.
• Pour over the ginger and treacle, which will spread around and up the sides of the tin, carefully covering all the ginger, and smooth the top.
• Bake for 35-40 minutes until the cake is firm to the touch, and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
• Invert the cake onto a plate and cool before eating.