Sticky Gingerbread Cake

This is a real crowd-pleaser.  If you can't wait for the stickiness to develop then eat it warm as a dessert with a good dollop of custard or cream!

Plain flour – 280g
Bicarbonate of soda – 1 tsp
Ground cinnamon – 1 tsp
Ground ginger – 1 tbsp
Stem ginger, chopped – 4 tbsp
Salt – ¼ tsp
Unsalted butter, softened – 170g
Light muscovado sugar – 90g
Golden syrup – 220g
Egg - 1
Milk – 200ml

1. Heat the oven to 170°/gas 3-4.

2. Line the base of a 20 cm square cake tin with greaseproof paper (buttered sides).

3. Sift the flour with the bicarbonate of soda, ground ginger, cinnamon and salt.

4. Cream the butter with the sugar until light and fluffy.

5. Whisk in the golden syrup, then add a heaped tablespoonful of the flour mixture followed by the egg.

6. Whisk in the remaining flour, followed by the milk, until the mixture forms a smooth batter. Stir in the stem ginger.

7. Scrape into the prepared tin. Bake for about 50 minutes until firm to the touch.

8. Test by inserting a skewer deep into the centre. If it comes out clean then it is done.

9. Allow the gingerbread to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, and then turn out onto a wire rack and leave to cool.

Tip: If you wrap the cooled cake in greaseproof paper, then foil and store in an airtight container for a couple of days it develops into an even stickier gingerbread cake.