Staff Picks: Christmas Gingerbread
Today for Staff Picks, our Office Assistant Jessica Edney shares her go-to gingerbread recipe to enjoy over the Christmas holidays...
When I was a child growing up in Hampshire, one of my favourite things about the run-up to Christmas was visiting the Southampton German Christmas Market with my mum. I loved walking up and down the rows of alpine chalets selling traditional gifts and wares, with a cup of hot chocolate in my hands. With limited pocket money, most of the goods on display were beyond my means, but I always made sure to visit the gingerbread stall. It was adorned with gingerbread hearts of all different sizes, decoratively iced and hanging from brightly coloured ribbons.
The smell of gingerbread always makes me remember the Christmas market, so I’ve been baking some gingerbread cake in preparation for the festive season.
Ingredients
- 150g butter
- 150g light brown sugar
- 200g golden syrup
- 100g black treacle
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 250ml milk
- 2 eggs
- ½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 300g plain flour
- 250g icing sugar
Method
Preheat your oven to 180C/Gas 4, and grease a large square tin with baking paper. Put the butter, syrup, treacle, sugar, and spices into a saucepan and place on a low heat. Stir until the contents have melted and mixed together, then turn off the heat.
Mix the eggs and milk together, and pour into the saucepan (mix it quickly). Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda, and baking powder into the mixture and fold.
Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 25-35 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into it comes out clean.
To make the icing, sift the icing sugar into a bowl, and slowly stir in water. Be careful not to add too much – you want a thick, runny consistency. When the cake is cool, drizzle the icing over the top, and enjoy!