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This gingerbread has a rich taste as the ingredients include mixed spice, nutmeg, cocoa powder, cinnamon, maple syrup and cultured buttermilk – besides ground ginger. You will only require a quarter of an hour to prepare this cake, although the cooking time runs to an hour. Gingerbread is best served at room temperature or warm with whipped cream. Another good thing about this cake is that it lasts for up to five days (at room temperature) if you wrap it in cling wrap.

Ingredients

To serve eight, you will need 300 grams of sifted cake flour (plain flour), 5 ml of bicarbonate of soda, a pinch of salt, 5 ml of ground ginger, 5 ml of mixed spice, half a teaspoon of cocoa powder, half a teaspoon of ground cinnamon and half a teaspoon of grated nutmeg.

You will also need 100 grams of butter, 230 ml of maple syrup, 150 grams of sugar, 1 egg, 100 ml of cultured buttermilk and 100 ml of milk. All the ingredients should be at room temperature before you use them.

Method

Preheat your oven to 180 degree Celsius and butter a 28 cm loaf tin (using separate butter). Place the flour, spices, salt, bicarbonate of soda and cocoa powder into a bowl and mix them together.

Melt the butter and then place it in a separate mixing bowl, together with the buttermilk, maple syrup, sugar, milk and the egg. Use an electric whisk (on a low speed) to mix the wet ingredients together until they are well combined.

Once the wet ingredients are well mixed, add the dry ingredients. Whisk them together (using a medium speed) until such time as all the ingredients are well incorporated and the cake mixture is smooth.

Spoon the gingerbread mixture into the loaf tin and place it on a baking tray in the centre of the oven. Bake for 55 minutes and then allow your gingerbread to cool in the tin for 10 minutes once you’ve removed it from the oven. Turn it out onto a wire rack to cool to room temperature before you serve it or store it.

Tags: baking