Winter cake

Name: Winter cake
Cook time: 1 h 30 min
Cuisine: British
Ingredients: 500g plain flour; 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda; 2 tsp ground ginger; 250g brown sugar; 4 tbsp mixed peel; 250g butter, chopped; 300ml milk; 4 eggs; 500g treacle; blanched almonds (optional)

Stephanie Alexander

October 19, 2011

Time:1-2 hours

Lady Jekyll suggests putting whole almonds on top of the cake but I had none. Instead, I reconstituted some dried pears in a mix of orange juice and white wine with a small amount of candied ginger and served a spoonful of this compote with a generous dollop of cream.

Ingredients

500g plain flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tsp ground ginger
250g brown sugar
4 tbsp mixed peel
250g butter, chopped
300ml milk
4 eggs
500g treacle
blanched almonds (optional)

Method

Preheat oven to 160C.
Butter a 22cm x 7cm deep square tin and line the base with paper.
Sieve all the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Stir in the mixed peel and mix through the dry ingredients.
Place the butter in a saucepan with the milk and warm just until the butter has dissolved.
Whisk the eggs just until well-combined.
Warm the treacle in the microwave for a minute or stand the jug of treacle in a pot of boiling water. Stir warmed treacle into eggs and whisk well together.
Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the egg-treacle mixture.
Pour into the tin, arrange almonds on top if using, and bake for 1 1/2 hours to 1¾ hours or until a skewer inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean.
Cool completely. Cut into squares and dust with icing sugar.

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