Fresh Ginger Cake

I've been busy looking around for a new addition to my household the last week and this past weekend I brought him home. Hopefully, I will get him a companion this coming weekend. I'll post pictures when he's settled down some and I'm able to get some decent pictures.

While flipping through Room for Dessert, this ginger recipe called out to me with its simplicity. Of course it helped that I had pieces of ginger on my counter that were threatening to sprout leaves.

I didn't have the molasses that the recipe called for so I substituted it with my remaining treacle and golden syrup. Talk about clearing the larder.


Fresh Ginger Cake
makes 24 cupcakes or a 9-inch cake

1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup treacle
1/3 cup golden syrup
1 cup water
2 tsp baking soda
4 oz fresh ginger, grated
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
2 eggs
crystallised ginger for garnish

Preheat the oven at 350F. Mix together the oil, sugar, treacle and golden syrup. Boil the water in a saucepan, stir in the baking soda before pouring it into the oil mixture. Mix in the ginger. In a separate bowl, sift the rest of the dry ingredients together, then combine well with the batter. Lastly, add in the eggs and blend well.
The batter is watery so use a small jug to pour into cupcake liners or pour directly into a prepared cake pan.
Bake in the oven for 30 minutes for cupcakes or for about an hour for the cake. If decorating the tops with crystallised ginger, press them gently into the tops of the cupcakes about halfway into the baking time.

Verdict: Moist as promised in the recipe book and definitely packs some heat. The taste reminds me somewhat of a really good ginger cookie but the texture is definitely cake.