A slice of spice
A fog has settled on the farmer’s field. Heavy clouds threaten to break into rain. Winter in Hamburg can be a dreary and damp affair. One could brave the wet and cold outside for a comforting mug of hot Glühwein at the Christmas market. Or perhaps, stay in and have a warm, treacly slice of ginger cake for some much-needed cheer.
I’m no stranger to the pungent zing of ginger. The knobbly root is present in so many of the Chinese dishes I grew up with. Think succulent steamed fish in light soy sauce topped with julienned ginger, glistening poached chicken with ginger-scallion sauce, tender stir-fried beef with sliced ginger, and my favourite – tang yuan, glutinous rice balls in a sweet ginger-pandan broth.
Strangely, the ginger was relegated to dessert (or ale) in this side of the world. There’s the parkin in England and Lebkuchen in Germany, The Danish have Brunkage and the Dutch, Speculaas. In all its iterations, the punchy heat of ginger is subdued with sweetness – be it dark brown sugar, heavy amber syrup, or sticky dense treacle. Unlike what I’m used to, most of these bakes don’t even impart any of the distinctive gingery flavour.
The ideal ginger cake, for me, is almost fudgy and pudding-like, and dotted with fresh and stem ginger for extra intensity. The heavy crumb stained dark with tar-coloured treacle, imparting a slight burnt caramel flavour. Despite its richness, I do like to drizzle it with warm sticky toffee sauce and slap on some freshly whipped vanilla cream. Or maybe even a heaping spoon of clotted cream. It’s winter after all – a little decadence is allowed. B
Triple Ginger Cake with Sticky Toffee Sauce
A delight for gloomy, cold days, this moist, dark ginger cake packs a punch with ginger in three different ways. To ramp up the warmth and fuzziness, serve it with a wonderfully rich sticky toffee sauce and freshly whipped vanilla cream. Quick and simple, it’s a bake that anyone can make.
Adapted from Nigel Slater
Makes a 14x3-inch cake
Takes about 30 minutes
Ingredients
For the cake
63g unsalted butter
40g black treacle
40g golden syrup
30g dark muscovado sugar
27g stem ginger, finely chopped
1 tbsp syrup from the ginger jar
1 tsp fresh ginger, peeled and grated
125g cake flour (T45 / Type 405)
1½ tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground allspice
⅛ tsp ground mace
⅛ tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp kosher salt
1 egg
120ml whole milk
For the sticky toffee sauce
37g unsalted butter
30g dark muscovado sugar
½ tbsp black treacle
50ml cream
Directions
Make the cake
Preheat the oven to 170°C. Grease and line the baking form with baking paper.
In a heavy-duty saucepan, warm the butter with muscovado sugar, golden syrup, black treacle, ginger syrup, stem and fresh ginger over low heat. It should bubble gently, stir occasionally to ensure the ginger don’t stick to the bottom.
In a large mixing bowl, sift flour, baking soda, and spices. Then, add in the salt and whisk until fully incorporated.
Break the egg into another small bowl and add in the milk, beating it gently.
Pour the butter and sugar mixture into the flour, stirring constantly with a rubber spatula. Then, mix in the egg and milk mixture until you get a cohesive and wet dough, with no flour streaks.
Pour the batter into the prepared tin and bake for 45 to 50 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.
If serving warm, you may remove the cake from its tin. If not, let it cool in the tin on a wire rack.
Brush the cake on all sides with 1 tbsp of syrup from the ginger jar to give it a sheen.
Make the sticky toffee sauce
Melt the butter, dark muscovado sugar, and treacle over medium-low heat in a heavy-duty saucepan over medium heat.
Once the butter has melted, stir gently until everything else is melted too. Stir in the cream and turn the heat up until it comes into volcanic bubbling, about 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from heat immediately.
Serve the ginger cake warm with toffee sauce and freshly whipped vanilla cream.
Alternatively, wrap them up in aluminium foil and let it rest in a cool place for a couple of days to allow the flavours to deepen.