Sticky Spiced Ginger Cake

Another birthday, another reason to BAKE! :D

So after 'Jamaican Ginger' had being discussed quite a lot in the office in recent months, a sticky ginger cake seemed to be the way forward. 

This recipe did not fail in hitting the spot ;) Good old BBC Good Food website, is where I found the recipe.

Ingredients

250g pack butter

250g dark brown muscovado sugar

250g black treacle

300ml milk

2 eggs

100ml glacé ginger from a jar, finely chopped (or ginger jam!)

375g plain flour

2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 tsp allspice

2 tsp ground ginger

1. Butter and line a 23cm square baking tin (or use a shallow roasting tin, approx 30 x 20cm). Heat oven to 160C/fan 140C/gas 3. Put the butter, sugar and treacle into a saucepan and heat gently for about 5 mins until the butter and sugar have melted. Stir in the milk. The mix should be just warm to the touch; if not, leave to cool a little longer, then beat in the eggs.
2. Mix the chopped ginger and dry ingredients together in a large bowl and make a well in the centre. Pour the melted mix into the well, then gradually draw the dry ingredients into the wet with a wooden spoon, until you have a thick, smooth batter.
3. Pour the batter into the prepared tin, then bake for 1 hr until risen and firm to the touch. Resist taking a peek beforehand; the cake will sink if the oven temperature drops too quickly before it's cooked through. Poke a skewer into the centre to check that it's cooked - it should come out clean. If not, give it 10 mins more and check again. Leave the cake to cool in the tin. Once completely cool, turn out of the tin ready for icing, or wrap well in cling film and keep in a cool, dry place for up to a week.
4. To make the icing, sift the icing sugar into a bowl and add the gingery syrup. Beat well until you have a smooth, runny icing. Once the cake has cooled, drizzle with icing and cut into squares. If you're planning to let the cake mature for a while, make the icing on the day you want to cut it. 

Serve warm with a blob off Creme Fraiche & enjoy!

Linzer Biscuits

So even though I made a large batch of Flapjacks for the office, they were all eaten in one day!? So as it's turned out, I did end up baking some more 'Christmas-y' biscuits (Well they have red in them).

I made these last year and I think they went down well, I was too busy eating them myself! They are individual hazelnut shortbreads with raspberry jam in the middle - a posh jammy dodger if you will.

Ooo I do like a jammy dodger and a cuppa tea (yes there is an 80yr inside trying to get out)
Anyway, my Dad very kindly made me some boxes this year - He runs a box company - makes boxes for the Queen, don't you know! ;) It's quite funny actually, recently I was near Green Park with a friend. You know near Buck Palace. It dawned on me that there might be a Buck Palace gift shop near by. So mid conversation, I yelped with excitement (I do make myself laugh)  and proceeded to drag the individual over the park into the shop. It was full to top with all my Dad's boxes!?

Now, even though I've known he's made boxes for them for a while, to see them on display in the shop, in Central London, Outside Buck Palace!!! Well was rather RUDDY exciting! Ha! It was like having a famous box making Dad!! (Took me a while to explain my sudden surge of crazy antics) LOL

(Just had re-read what I had written, cause couldn't remember how I got from biscuits to Buckingham Palace - lol) This will be down to the fact I was up till 1.30am baking last night (got a bit carried away - as I always do).

So yeah, the boxes. My Dad, originally designed me these beautifully fabric coated, bright coloured boxes, that if I wanted could be lined with fabric, so on and so forth. They were truely great! So he was a bit perplexed when I asked for basic basic boxes, just brown, no coating inside or outside. But I do love a classic brown box. There is a true beauty in the simplest of things.

Thanks for the boxes Dad ;)

I gave a couple of Boxes to one of our clients, Tim and his crew (also gave him a box of flapjacks, as he mentioned how much he liked them). A box to the Touch Crew (my work) and another to Anne at FUSS (it's her birthday this weekend).

Get such a buzz from baking these biscuits. I think it's because they look so smart when you put them together. Hmm. It's just such a great feeling that in a short period of time you can create something so delicate and pretty that will consequently be eaten and then gone forever.

Flapjack Cookies revisited

Did you know that the main reason people visit my blog is to read one of my first posts on my Mum's Flapjack Cookies recipe 239 people to be exact!?!

I haven't been home for a while and even though Christmas is on the horizon ( & tempted to make Christmas-y looking biscuits) I felt compelled to make a few home comforts. Ahh my kitchen smelt just like back-home when I was baking them. I grew up on these and will always consider them as proper flapjacks and not the slice variety that everyone else are used too.

This lovely new batch of flapjacks were for my clients and work colleagues.
Half the tin was eaten by midday!?

Victoria's Famous Flapjacks

170g Traditional whole rolled oats
140g Sugar
140g Plain flour
1 tsp bicarb of soda
2 tbsp Boiling hot water
170g block butter
1 tablespoon Syrup
(makes around 34 biscuits)

Preheat oven to 180oc

Mix the oats, sugar and flour together in bowl. In a separate bowl mix the boiling water and bicarb of soda, then mix into the oat mixture.

Melt the butter & syrup in a bowl over boiling water. once melted add to the oat mixture.
Roll into small balls and place on a baking tray covered with baking parchment, press two fingers into each blob. Make sure they are too close together as they will spread. If you're using one tray, do it in three batches.

Pop in the oven for around 12-14 mins, they won't take long.
leave to cool on the tray a bit to crisp-en up, then onto a wire rack to fully cool.
Package up and hand out to people to make yourself smile ;D

A blog called Constellations have blogged about my mum's recipe too, and it looks like they went down well. Lets just hope that the office and my clients like the oaty variety treats to the jammy linzer biscuits I made last year.

Questions is ... how should I package them?
Hmmm will post some photos once I decide.