Hope you all enjoyed last month's recipe - I certainly had some very positive feedback. Congratulations to Gemma from Growing My Family Tree who was the winner of the cupcake book. Look forward to seeing any cupcake ideas you try out :) Now the weather is turning cold and damp I thought I'd try out a recipe that would bring a little warmth and spice. This sticky ginger cake has stem ginger and the ginger syrup from the jar in it, although if you don't want to spend out for a jar (as they are quite pricey) then you can leave it out - it will be just as delicious!

Ingredients

125g unsalted butter

125g light muscovado sugar

85g golden syrup

85g black treacle

200ml milk

3 pieces stem ginger

1 tbsp ginger syrup from the stem ginger jar

250g self raising flour

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 1/2 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp cinnamon

2 eggs

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 160°C and grease and line a 2lb loaf tin.

2. Place the butter, sugar, syrup, treacle and milk in a saucepan.

3. Finely chop the stem ginger and add to the saucepan with a tablespoon of the ginger syrup from the jar.

4. Place the saucepan over a gentle heat until the ingredients have combined, stirring occasionally.

5. Once the ingredients are all combined, remove the pan from the heat and allow to cool for 5 minutes.

6. Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda, ground ginger and cinnamon into a large bowl. It is important to use a large bowl as the mixture will swell when the wet ingredients are added.

7. Make a well in the centre of the flour and add the eggs. Gradually begin to combine the eggs and flour then start to add the contents of the saucepan slowly, stirring with a whisk as you go.

8. Once the ingredients have been  mixed together pour the cake batter into the prepared loaf tin. Don't worry if there are a few small lumps in the mixture, but there shouldn't be any large lumps remaining.

9. Bake for approximately 40-45 minutes until the cake is risen and a dark golden brown colour. Test to see if the cake is cooked by inserting a skewer into the centre and checking if it comes out clean.

10. Remove from the oven and prick all over with a skewer. Brush the top with a little more ginger syrup from the stem ginger jar or some golden syrup if you aren't using the stem ginger.

11. Leave to cool in the tin for 15 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

12. Slice and serve. Also delicious warm with custard or ice cream.

The ginger cake will keep well in an airtight container for several days, if not longer. In fact a ginger cake is often at its best a few days after baking!

As usual, don’t forget to add your photos to the Flickr group and blog your yummy creations. Grab yourself a blog badge from the sidebar too if you’d like. I will put up a Linky on Monday 25th Oct for you to add your blog post links to, which will stay open until 8pm Sunday 31st Oct. I will then choose one lucky baker, who will receive a copy of The Great British Book of Baking by Linda Collister.

Happy Baking everyone! x