A Simple, Sticky and Thrifty Ginger Cake!
Ginger cake is a perennial favourite, great for lunchboxes and picnics, easy to make but it can be quite messy…dry ingredients in one bowl, melting the sugar, syrup and fat in a saucepan, blending the two together trying not to splash yourself with the hot liquid…it can be a little off-putting.
So much better to have this simple recipe to call on to make this light, moist and sticky cake that is made all in one bowl, takes no longer than a few minutes to mix together and if that wasn’t enough, this cake gets even better over a few days…if it lasts that long!


- 200g (7 oz) self raising flour
- 200g (7 oz) soft light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 50g (2 oz) butter or block margarine
- 1 egg - beaten
- 1 tablespoon golden syrup*
- 1 tablespoon black treacle*
- 250 ml (9 fl oz) hot water (hand hot water from the tap, not boiling from the kettle!)
- *measure the syrup and the treacle carefully...too much and your cake will sink in the middle!
- First turn on the oven to gas 4 then grease and line an 8" x 8" square cake tin. This will give you quite a shallow cake that is particularly suitable for lunchboxes but if you prefer a deeper cake use a 7" x 7" tin and cook for slightly longer.
- Mix all of the dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. Make sure that the sugar in particular has no large lumps.
- Rub in the butter or block margarine until it has all been incorporated then add the beaten egg, syrup and treacle to the mixture followed by the hot water and mix everything together thoroughly. Be warned, the mixture will be very liquid!
- Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake in the centre of the oven for 35-40 mins until risen and nicely browned on top. Test that the cake is cooked by inserting a skewer into the centre, it should come out clean.
- Leave in the tin for 5 minutes before turning the cake out onto a wire rack to finish cooling.
- No problem, simply use 2 tablespoons of golden syrup instead. The cake will be lighter in colour and flavour.
Here is my favourite 8″ square cake tin…