Alphabetic Recipes B — Bonfire Ginger Cake

Today's is the second entry of my new series of Alphabetic recipes. Each day for the next month and more, I will be adding a new recipe linked to a different letter of the alphabet. As I collect recipes from all over the globe, and have lots of Welsh recipes, I am going to use a blend of the Welsh and English alphabets:

A | B | C | D | E | F | Ff | G | H | I | J | K | L | Ll | M | N | O | P | Q | R | Rh | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

so there will be 31entries in total. As today is the second day in this series I am starting with the letter 'B'.

Continuing with the Autumnal theme of the first recipe, today I have a modern British recipe for a classic Bonfire Night (November 5th) recipe for a Bonfire Ginger and Apple cake (that's three 'B's all in one recipe!).

The practice of preparing and serving ginger cakes both in the autumn and for Bonfire night is a long one, particularly in England. This cake has a little extra spice because of the sliced ginger arranged on the base of the cake.

Bonfire Ginger and Apple Cake Recipe

Ingredients:

100g butter
100g muscovado sugar
100g sultanas
8 tbsp treacle (molasses)
1 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves
2 eggs
200g plain flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
500ml milk
1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored and finely diced
2 balls of preserved stem ginger (in syrup), very thinly sliced
butter for greasing

Method:

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Stir in the sultanas, treacle (molasses), ground ginger and ground cloves then beat the mixture until smooth (it is easier if you gently heat the treacle first).

Add the eggs, one at a time along with 3 tbsp of the flour, to this mixture, beating thoroughly to combine before you add the next egg. Now add in all the remaining flour and the bicarbonate of soda. Stir in the milk then add the diced apple and fold in to combine.

Grease a cake tin and lay the sliced preserved ginger in the base. Carefully layer over the cake batter so as not to disturb the ginger then spoon in the remaining cake batter. Transfer the cake to an oven pre-heated to 180ºC and bake for about 50 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake emerges cleanly.

Allow the cake to cool in the tin for 10 minutes then invert onto a wire rack and set aside to cool completely before slicing and serving. Serve with the ginger slices on the top.

For more Bonfire Night recipes, see the Celtnet Bonfire/Guy Fawkes Night recipes page. This recipe is adapted from the following recipe for a Bonfire Ginger Cake and is brought to you in conjunction with the Celtnet Guide to Recipes Beginning with 'B'.

Find more British recipes on the Recipes from the British Isles page of this blog.