Recipe

Sticky Ginger Cakes (GF)

updated on

Cakes made with ginger or treacle are usually found around Christmas time but as soon as the leaves turn brown, I crave all things ginger, sticky and delicious!

I needed a cake that was rich and full of deep ginger flavour but that would also satisfy my sweet craving. And this cake ticks all the boxes! It’s like a cosy hug in cake form!

The buttercream topping is such a treat. I decided to match this warming cake with a zingy and refreshing ginger and lime buttercream. It’s a perfect match! Though if buttercream isn’t your thing, this cake has enough punch that it can stand up for itself!

This recipe makes 2 mini loaves (using two 1 lb tins) or 1 large loaf (using a 2lb tin). You can also half the recipe to make a batch of 12 cupcakes!

This recipe takes up to 2 hours to make. It’s super easy to make gluten-free too, just make the substitutions listed below!

Ingredients:

For the cake:

  • 75 g unsalted butter, softened
  • 100 g soft dark brown sugar
  • 125 g black treacle
  • 50 g golden syrup
  • 150 ml whole milk
  • 2 eggs
  • 225 g self-raising flour (substitute for gluten-free self-raising flour if needed)
  • 2 tsp ground ginger
  • 1 tsp baking powder (make sure this is gluten-free if needed)
  • 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 50 g crystallised ginger, chopped into chunks

For the buttercream:

  • 200 g unsalted butter
  • 400 g icing sugar
  • 2 tsp ginger
  • 1 tsp vanilla bean paste or extract
  • juice of 2 limes

To decorate I used red, orange, and yellow food colouring for the buttercream and chose sprinkles to match my autumnal colour scheme.

Useful Equipment: Cake tins (either 2 x 1lb loaf tins, 1 x 2lb loaf tin or a 12 hole muffin tin), medium saucepan, mixing bowl, hand/stand mixer, spatula, measuring jug, chopping board and knife, juicer, piping bags and tips

Method:

  1. Preheat the oven to 175 °C fan/325 °F and prepare your cake tin of choice with either grease/baking paper or cupcake cases.
  2. In a medium saucepan, melt together the butter, sugar and treacle over a medium heat. Once melted, remove from the heat and whisk in the milk and vanilla followed by the eggs.
  3. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, ground ginger, baking powder, bicarb and salt. Add the wet ingredients and mix together thoroughly.
  4. Pour the batter into your prepared tin(s) and scatter the chopped crystallised ginger over the top of the batter.
  5. Bake in the oven for 15-17 mins if making cupcakes or 20-25 mins if making 1lb loaves and 30-35 mins if making a 2lb loaf. Check the cakes are baked by inserting a skewer into the middle of the cake and seeing if it comes out clean. Place on a wire rack to cool completely.
  6. Whilst the cake is cooling, make the buttercream by beating the butter until soft and gradually adding the icing sugar and beating until smooth. Add the ground ginger, vanilla and lime juice and mix to combine. If the consistency is too thick, add boiled water 1 tbsp at a time until soft and pipeable.
  7. Decorate your cakes however you fancy! I decided to go for an Autumnal theme and coloured my buttercream using red, orange and yellow colouring. I used four different tips to pipe: a JEM123 petal tip, a 9FT french tip, a 1M Wilton tip and a 30 Wilton closed star tip.

These cakes will keep up to 5 days in an airtight container. The cakes will freeze up to 3 months without buttercream so are really good for batch baking! Enjoy!

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