Everything in England is measured in grams and milliliters. So get your weighing scale out and prepare to measure if you want this cake to turn out perfectly!
While the recipe calls for "treacle" (a British product that resembles dark molasses) you don't need to order treacle online to make this delicious dessert! Instead, just use the darkest molasses you can possibly find. I suppose you could even make your own molasses but how many hours do you have free in one day?
I would order Treacle, though. It's worth the wait and the weight!
- 500 grams flour (17.4 oz)
- 200 grams salted butter (7.05 oz)
- 200 grams brown sugar (7.05 oz) (light or dark, depending on how rich you want the cake)
- 15 grams powdered ginger- the fresher the better! (.53 oz)
- 500 grams treacle (or dark as night molasses) (17.64 oz)
- 1 tsp baking soda
- Warm milk (about 1/4 cup or more if needed)
- Warm water (may not be needed)
- Cream your butter.
- Add in the sugar, the eggs, and the cream until incorporated.
- Add in the ginger.
- Whisk the flour with the salt.
- Add the flour in parts, alternating with the treacle (use warm water to get the last bit of the treacle out if necessary).
- Add the baking soda to the warm milk and give it a slight stir.
- Add this mixture to the gingerbread dough until the dough becomes a very thick, but pourable, mixture.
- Line your form pan or cake pan with buttered paper and pour in the mixture.
- Bake at 350 for 60 minutes, or until the middle is done.
- Let cool for 5 minutes, remove from the pan, and cool on a rack.
A couple of notes here. If you really want to add more ginger flavor, rather than just increasing the powdered ginger, grate about 1 tbsp of fresh ginger and add it to the mixture before adding the milk. Make sure it's incorporated before adding the milk.
How much ginger should you add? How much ginger flavor do you want? :)
There are several ways to serve this up. One is to just dust with confectioners' sugar.
Another is my favorite: making an orange glaze and drizzling it on each cake slice.