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Mary Berry Ginger Cake Recipe

Mary Berry Ginger Cake Recipe

Mary Berry's ginger cake is a dark, sticky, deeply spiced ginger cake with a warming treacle base — completely wonderful and even better on day two.
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Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 50 minutes
Cooling Time 2 hours
Total Time 3 hours 10 minutes
Servings: 12 Slices
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: British
Calories: 380
Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients
  

  • Ginger Cake:
  • 175 g unsalted butter cubed
  • 175 g soft dark brown sugar
  • 175 g black treacle
  • 175 g golden syrup
  • 300 ml whole milk
  • 2 large eggs beaten
  • 350 g plain flour sifted
  • 2 tsp ground ginger
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 tsp mixed spice
  • ½ tsp ground nutmeg
  • 1½ tsp bicarbonate of soda dissolved in 2 tbsp warm water
  • 3 balls stem ginger in syrup finely chopped
  • 2 tbsp stem ginger syrup from the jar
  • Ginger Icing:
  • 150 g icing sugar sifted
  • 2 tbsp stem ginger syrup
  • 1 –2 tbsp warm water
  • 2 balls stem ginger sliced — for decoration

Method
 

  1. Preheat oven to 160°C / 140°C fan / Gas 3. Grease and line a deep 23cm round tin.
  2. Melt butter, dark brown sugar, treacle, and golden syrup over medium-low heat — stir until smooth. Do not boil. Cool 10 minutes.
  3. Add milk, beaten eggs, and stem ginger syrup — stir through.
  4. Sift flour and all spices directly into liquid — stir until smooth. Add chopped stem ginger. Add dissolved bicarbonate of soda — stir immediately.
  5. Pour into tin. Bake 50–60 minutes until skewer comes out clean. Cover loosely after 35 minutes if darkening. Cool completely in tin — 2 hours.
  6. Mix icing sugar, stem ginger syrup, and water to a flowing icing. Pour over cooled cake. Spread to edges — let it drip. Arrange sliced stem ginger on top. Set 20 minutes. Slice.

Notes

Black treacle is the defining ingredient — gives the dark colour and bitter depth. Do not substitute.
Use both ground ginger and stem ginger — background warmth throughout and vivid pockets of flavour.
Cool treacle mixture 10 minutes before adding eggs — warm mixture scrambles them.
The batter is very liquid — correct. Do not add flour. The liquid batter gives the moist, sticky crumb.
Make the day before — ginger cake improves dramatically over the first 2 days.
Freeze without icing for up to 3 months.
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