I love the pungent sharp kick of ginger, so it's not surprising that this cake is a favourite.
Intensely flavoured and moreish, the gingerbread is not cloyingly sweet.
The treacle and the spices are a superb foil for marmalade's acerbity.
The whole is sparkled by the surprise bite of little pieces of crystallised ginger studded throughout.
Perfect as a pudding and great with coffee, the gingerbread's warm spiciness balances coffee's acidity.
Choose a fairly tart marmalade with thin slivers of citrus rather than chunks.
This gives the citrus elements in the cake and the glaze some sublety.
I use Rose's English Breakfast marmalade.
Spiced treacle gingerbreadwith a marmalade glaze
Ingredients
200g self-raising flour
¼ tsp baking soda
4 tsp ground ginger
¼ tsp each ground cloves and ground nutmeg
¼ cup chopped crystalllised ginger (60g)
80g butter cut into chunks and softened
100g dark cane sugar
¼ cup treacle
two large eggs
⅔ cup plain natural yoghurt
¼ cup marmalade
Glaze
1 Tbsp marmalade
2 Tbsp lemon juice
Method
Line the base of a 20cm ring tin with non-stick baking paper and lightly oil the sides.
Preheat the oven to 180degC. Sift flour, baking soda, ground ginger, cloves and nutmeg into a medium-sized bowl.
Stir in the crystallised ginger and set aside.
Beat together the butter, sugar and treacle until thick and creamy.
Add the eggs and beat well. Mix in the yoghurt and the marmalade.
The mixture will probably curdle but this does not matter.
It will smooth out when you add the flour.
Make a well in the dry ingredients and add the liquid mixture and stir briefly to combine.
Do not overmix.
Tip into the prepared cake tin and smooth the top.
Bake at 180degC for 35-40 minutes until golden brown and springy to the touch or until a skewer poked in the middle comes out clean.
Do not overcook.
While the cake is cooking make the glaze.
Combine the marmalade and lemon juice in a small saucepan or microwave-proof bowl and heat until hot and the marmalade is runny.
Stir to combine.
Remove the cake from the oven and using a pastry brush paint the hot glaze liberally over the top of the hot cake.
Cool the cake completely in the tin before turning it out.
Slide a knife between the sides of the tin and the cake to loosen it.
As the top of the cake is sticky with the glaze, cover it with cling film then invert it onto a plate, remove the baking paper, and turn right-side up. Remove the cling film.
The cake keeps well for five days in an airtight container and up to 8 or 9 days in the fridge.
Cuts into 16 slices.
