Jamaican Ginger Cake

Who can resist the warm, dark stickiness of a traditional ginger cake? I find it impossible to eat less than half a loaf! I was brought up on the shop bought variety, and always presumed they would not be repeatable at home. How wrong I was. This is simplicity itself to make: melt down the sugars and butter, before stirring in the flour. As someone who has to avoid chocolate for long period because of migraines, this cake is as close as you can get to replacing the sticky goo of a great chocolate cake. It doesn't have much butter in the recipe, nor does it have an icing. So I make up for that scandalous lack of fat calories but slathering it richly in golden salty butter. This is one of those cakes that gets better after a couple of days wrapped in foil. That's if you can resist it hot out of the oven.

This recipe is adapted from Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall's supreme book: Everyday, which I have been cooking my way through this winter.

Preheat oven to 180C

75 g butter
100g dark brown sugar
200g golden syrup
2 tbsp the syrup from a jar of preserved stem ginger and a little more reserved for later
75 ml dark or spiced rum (I used Captain Morgans)
2 medium eggs lightly beaten
225g self raising flour
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp cinnamon
75 g preserved stem ginger (in syrup), finely chopped.

1 large loaf tin (2lbs/ 1 litre) lined with baking parchment.

Melt the butter, syrups and sugar gently in a pan. Remove from the heat and leave to cool a little. Then stir in the rum, eggs and flour.

Pour into the tin and cook for 40-50mins. Check regularly after 20 mins and if it is looking like the top is getting too dark, cover it with foil. It is cooked when a skewer comes out clean.

Enjoy!