Anna Louise Parkin is one of Britain’s most characterful regional bakes — a sticky, dense, deeply spiced oat and ginger cake from Yorkshire and Lancashire that has been made in the north of England for centuries, traditionally on Bonfire Night but eaten with great enthusiasm throughout autumn and winter.
Mary Berry’s parkin recipe is faithful to the traditional northern recipe — black treacle for depth and colour, golden syrup for sweetness, rolled oats for texture, and a generous hand with the ginger.
It requires almost no technique beyond melting and mixing, and the patience to leave it alone for at least two days before eating.
What Makes Parkin Different From Gingerbread?
Both parkin and gingerbread use ginger and treacle, but they are distinctly different bakes.
Parkin contains oatmeal or rolled oats. This is the defining characteristic — the oats give parkin its particular dense, slightly grainy texture and its ability to become wonderfully sticky as it matures. A gingerbread without oats is simply gingerbread; with oats, it becomes something entirely its own.
Parkin uses both black treacle and golden syrup. The black treacle gives it an almost bitter depth and a very dark colour. The golden syrup provides sweetness and contributes to the sticky quality. Together they give parkin its characteristic deep, complex sweetness that no other combination quite replicates.
Parkin must be made ahead. This is not optional or a suggestion — a parkin eaten on the day it is baked is disappointingly dry and firm. A parkin eaten three days later is magnificent. Patience is built into the recipe.
Ingredients for Mary Berry Parkin
- 225g self-raising flour, sifted
- 225g medium oatmeal or rolled oats
- 2 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp mixed spice
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
- Pinch of fine salt
- 175g unsalted butter
- 175g soft dark brown sugar
- 150g black treacle
- 100g golden syrup
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- 4 tbsp whole milk
How to Make Mary Berry Parkin — Step by Step
Step 1 — Preheat and Prepare
Preheat your oven to 160°C / 140°C fan / Gas 3. Grease a deep 20cm square cake tin and line the base and sides with baking parchment.
Step 2 — Mix the Dry Ingredients
In a large mixing bowl, combine the sifted self-raising flour, oatmeal or rolled oats, ground ginger, mixed spice, cinnamon, bicarbonate of soda, and salt. Stir together to distribute evenly.
Step 3 — Melt the Wet Ingredients
Place the butter, dark brown sugar, black treacle, and golden syrup into a medium saucepan over a low heat. Stir gently until the butter has melted and the sugar has dissolved and everything is combined into a smooth, glossy, very dark mixture. Do not let it boil — you want it melted and combined, not starting to caramelise.
Remove from the heat and leave to cool for five minutes.
Step 4 — Combine and Make the Batter
Pour the warm treacle mixture over the dry ingredients. Add the beaten eggs and milk. Stir everything together until completely combined — the batter will be quite liquid and very dark. This is correct. Parkin batter is much more liquid than a standard cake batter and looks alarmingly thin at this stage.
Step 5 — Bake Low and Slow
Pour the batter into the prepared tin — it will fill it quite deeply. Bake on the middle shelf for 50 to 60 minutes until the parkin is set across the entire surface, has pulled away very slightly from the sides, and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
Do not open the oven door before the 45-minute mark. Parkin is delicate during baking and a rush of cold air too early can cause the centre to sink.
The parkin will look quite dark — almost alarmingly so — when it comes out of the oven. This is the treacle doing its work and is completely correct.
Step 6 — Cool and Wrap
Leave the parkin to cool completely in the tin — do not rush this. Once completely cold, remove from the tin, leaving the lining paper on, and wrap tightly in a double layer of foil. Store at room temperature for a minimum of two days before cutting — three days is better, and five days is when it reaches its magnificent, sticky peak.
Step 7 — Cut and Serve
Unwrap the parkin and cut into squares with a sharp knife. It should be noticeably stickier and moister than when you wrapped it. Each square should have that characteristic dense, slightly chewy texture and intensely spiced, sweet-bitter depth.
My Top Tips for the Best Parkin
Do not eat it fresh. This is the most important rule of parkin and the one that new bakers most often ignore. Fresh parkin is dry, firm, and disappointing. Day-two parkin is noticeably improved. Day-three parkin is excellent. Day-five parkin is extraordinary. Wrap it tightly, put it away, and exercise patience.
Use black treacle, not just golden syrup. The black treacle is non-negotiable for authentic parkin. It provides the deep, slightly bitter, almost molasses-like flavour and the very dark colour that are the defining characteristics of this bake. Golden syrup alone gives something that is pleasant but thin and lacking depth.
Use medium oatmeal if you can find it. Traditional parkin is made with medium oatmeal — ground more finely than rolled oats but not as fine as oat flour. It gives a denser, more cohesive texture. Rolled oats work perfectly well if oatmeal is unavailable and give a slightly more textured, oat-forward result. Both are authentic.
Do not let the treacle mixture boil. You are melting and combining, not cooking. High heat can cause the sugars to begin caramelising before the batter is made, which affects both the texture and the flavour of the finished parkin.
Wrap immediately once cold. The wrapping step is not optional — it is what allows the parkin to “come” and develop its characteristic sticky texture. A parkin left unwrapped will dry out rather than becoming moist and sticky. Wrap tightly in foil the moment it is completely cold.
Store in a cool, dry place — not the fridge. Refrigeration prevents the coming process and makes the parkin dry and firm. Room temperature storage — in its foil wrapping, in a tin or container — is correct.
Serving Suggestions
Cut into generous squares and eaten at room temperature — this is the traditional approach and it needs nothing alongside it. With a cup of strong tea on a cold afternoon.
As part of a Bonfire Night spread alongside toffee apples and hot chocolate. As an autumn gift, wrapped in baking parchment and tied with string for a thoroughly northern and thoroughly wonderful present.
How to Store Mary Berry Parkin
At room temperature: Wrapped tightly in foil, in an airtight container or tin, for up to 2 weeks. The sticky quality increases over the first week and then remains stable.
In the freezer: Wrap in cling film and then foil for up to 3 months. Defrost at room temperature overnight, still wrapped, to allow it to come to the right temperature and texture before serving.
Mary Berry Parkin Recipe
Ingredients
Method
- Preheat oven to 160°C / 140°C fan / Gas 3. Grease and line a deep 20cm square tin.
- Combine flour, oatmeal, ginger, mixed spice, cinnamon, bicarbonate of soda, and salt in a large bowl.
- Melt butter, dark brown sugar, treacle, and golden syrup gently in a saucepan over low heat until smooth and combined. Do not boil. Cool for 5 minutes.
- Pour treacle mixture over dry ingredients. Add beaten eggs and milk. Stir until completely combined — batter will be quite liquid and very dark.
- Pour into prepared tin. Bake for 50–60 minutes until set across the surface and a skewer comes out clean. Do not open the oven before 45 minutes.
- Cool completely in the tin. Wrap tightly in a double layer of foil immediately once cold.
- Store at room temperature for a minimum of 2 days — 3 to 5 days for the best sticky texture — before cutting into squares.
Notes
Frequently Asked Questions About Mary Berry Parkin
Can I use golden syrup only and leave out the black treacle?
You can, but the result will be significantly lighter in both colour and flavour — closer to a golden gingerbread than a proper Yorkshire parkin. Black treacle is what makes parkin what it is. If you genuinely dislike treacle, use half treacle and half golden syrup as a compromise.
Why is my parkin still dry after two days?
It was not wrapped tightly enough or the wrapping was not done immediately after cooling. Wrap in a double layer of foil with no gaps — any air reaching the parkin will dry it out rather than allow the coming process to happen. If it is still dry after three days, rewrap more tightly and wait another day or two.
Can I add stem ginger to parkin?
Yes — two tablespoons of finely chopped stem ginger in syrup, stirred into the batter with the wet ingredients, adds an additional warm, fiery ginger heat that is wonderful in parkin. It also increases the stickiness of the finished cake. Drain the syrup before chopping.
Why did my parkin sink in the middle?
Either the oven door was opened too early, the oven temperature was too high, or the baking powder and bicarbonate were old. Do not open the oven before 45 minutes, bake at the lower temperature, and check the freshness of your raising agents.
Is parkin the same as gingerbread?
They are related but distinct. Parkin contains oatmeal, which gingerbread does not. Parkin improves dramatically over several days; most gingerbreads are best on the day of baking. Parkin uses both black treacle and golden syrup; gingerbread typically uses just one. They are different things, both wonderful.
Can I make parkin in a loaf tin?
Yes — divide the batter between two 2lb loaf tins and bake at the same temperature for 40 to 45 minutes. The loaf shape is easier to slice and makes parkin particularly practical for giving as a gift.
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