The best ginger cake

This is a cake I grew up eating! My mum would often make this for tea time. The secret to the taste in this recipe is using black treacle. I have never been able to find black treacle in the Netherlands, it really is a British product! Black treacle itself is a thick, dark, sugar syrup. It contains sugarcane molasses to create a slightly bitter flavour. Don't worry this doesn't make the cake bitter! It is different to molasses and has a slighly burnt flavour which is important to getting the flavour of this ginger cake right. But if you can't find black treacle, just use molasses, the taste will be roughly the same, maybe just a bit lighter and not so treacly. 

This recipe also uses golden syrup - another British staple. This is sometimes referred to as 'light treacle' and has its own distinct flavour as well. I've never managed to find a good substitute for golden syrup, it really has its own distinct caramel flavour which you don't get from honey or something like corn syrup (which is way to sweet!). I have read that you can make it from sugar, water and & lemons, so once I run out of the supply I brought back from the UK, I'll give that a try! 

Ingredients

110g/4oz butter

110/4oz soft brown sugar

110g/4oz black treacle

110g/4oz golden syrup

225g/8oz plain flour

½ level teaspoon salt

1 level teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

2-3 teaspoons ground ginger

1 level teaspoon mixed spice

2 eggs

6 tablespoons milk

Method

• Preheat the oven to 170°C / 150°C fan.
  
  
• Put the butter, sugar, treacle and syrup into a pan. Heat gently until the butter melts, then cool slightly. 
  
  
• Sieve dry ingredients into a bowl. 
  
  
• Make a well in the centre, slowly pour in syrup and milk and beat thoroughly. Warm the milk in the saucepan so that no treacle mixture is wasted. 
  
  
• Stir, without beating, till well blended. 
  
  
• Lastly stir in the beaten eggs. 
  
  
• Pour mixture into a large rectangular lined cake tin and bake for around 45 mins - 1hr. 
  
  
• Cool in the tin for 15 min before placing on a wire rack and cutting into squares.