'It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas......'

Guinness Gingerbread

Oh my gosh......December is here and I don't know how that has happened. Where this year has gone, I have no idea. I think I blinked and missed it. Christmas is just around the corner and the next couple of weeks are going to be focused on getting ready for it. Braving the crowds to find the perfect present, wrapping, and writing cards. It doesn't really stop. Come the big day (and not wanting to sound like the Grinch), I am rather relieved that it is almost over. And happy to have a couple of days where all I am expected to do is peel a few potatoes and not much else.
I love Gingerbread because it is the most perfect cake for this time of year. Not only is it chock-full of ginger, cinnamon and cloves, those warming and wintry spices that you can't help but associate with Christmas, but it is also super quick to make and is therefore brilliant if you are short on time and still want to whip up a sweet treat. The smell that permeates the home while baking can't help but make you feel a little bit festive. It is the cake that I turn to if I need a quick bake, because, to be honest, by the time I have finished all of my traditional baking, I am all baked out.

I have a friend, Miss B, who each time I feed her cake, always loudly and with great gusto proclaims that it is her new favourite. This always amuses me, because although I know she is being absolutely genuine, I am not sure how that is possible. However, one thing I do know, is that she absolutely loves Gingerbread, and that has always remained a constant. This recipe is therefore dedicated to her so now she can make and enjoy it at any time she likes.

I hope you find this Gingerbread just as it should be; damp and sticky and full of spicy flavours. Don't be put off by the Guinness. Even if it not your favourite tipple, you don't actually taste it. I think it adds a richness and an ever so inviting deep, dark colour.
This cake is also versatile. Cut it into small squares and enjoy it as is, or cut the squares larger and drown in custard for a delicious pudding. After a roast. On a Sunday.
 

For the Cake

(from Nigella's Kitchen by Nigella Lawson)

150g unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing the tin

300g golden syrup

200g dark muscovado sugar

250ml Guinness

2 tsp ground ginger

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground cloves

300g plain flour

2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

300ml soured cream

2  medium eggs

Square baking tin 23cm square, greased and lined with baking paper, or a foil tray tin 30 x 20 x 5 cm, greased and lined as before.

1. Preheat the oven to 170C / 325F / Gas 3. 

2. In a large pan put in the butter, syrup, muscovado sugar, Guinness and spices, and melt over a low heat. When melted, take the mixture off the heat.

3. Sift the flour and bicarbonate of soda together in bowl and then add to the melted mixture, whisking until no lumps of flour remain.

4. Mix the soured cream and eggs together in another bowl, pour into the mixture and whisk again until you have a smooth batter.

5. Pour into your prepared tin, and then bake for about 45 minutes, until it is risen in the centre, and the sides are coming away from the tin.

6. Leave the gingerbread to cool before removing from the tin and cutting into as squares. I used the square tin and it made 36 fairly small but quite deep squares.

Baking Notes

There is no reason why you couldn't adapt this recipe and add some extra goodies. I have made this before with some chopped stem ginger mixed into the cake to add texture and a little extra heat. Chopped walnuts or pecan nuts would add crunch. In addition, drizzle with a simple icing made with icing sugar, ginger syrup and a little water, and sprinkle liberally with some more chopped ginger or nuts for decoration.

If you want to make this in advance, then do so as it keeps brilliantly in an airtight tin for (in my case) five days.

Just a little note re the styling of my photographs. I would love to lay claim to their originality but unfortunately I can't. I watched Nigella Lawson make this cake and decorate it like this on one of her programmes. I loved it so much I that I just had to re-create it for myself. I can't resist a bit of retro kitsch, especially at Christmas, and these decorations take me back to when I was a child and my mother and I would decorated the cake with very similar.