This is one of my Mum’s old recipes that I have adapted to be dairy free. Usually Ginger cake will have milk as a main ingredient but after some experimentation I found the best tasting substitute is actually apple juice. The problem with replacing milk in cakes with almond/oat/rice milk is they lack the acidity of cows milk. they therefore do not lead to the same chemical reactions of the ingredients when baking, and you are left with a flat cake. By substituting with apple juice you keep both the liquid content and acidity crucial for a good bake.

This recipe is also hugely adaptive. I have used it to make all sorts, from iced gingerbread fingers, to round cutting cake, to a showstopper Christmas cake in a fancy tin. Just adjust your mix size to the tin you require. It will work for any shape and any size. Just remember, if you double your mix you will need to increase your cooking time too. You will know when your cake is done as it will be bouncy, a skewer will come out clean, and it will be starting to come away from the edge of the tin.

With this recipe its not just the size you can custom either. You can make very different textures and colours just by swapping a few key ingredients. For example, if you like a sticky ginger cake you can add more treacle and use dark brown sugar. If you prefer a light, fresh tasting ginger cake, use light brown sugar and only golden syrup. Personally I like it somewhere in the middle so I use dark brown sugar and half and half treacle to golden syrup.

Ingredients:

8oz self raising flour

½ tsp salt

2 tsp ground ginger

2 balls of stem ginger finely chopped

2oz Margarine

2oz soft brown sugar (light or dark, your choice)

4oz Golden Syrup/Black treacle (I recommend starting with 2oz of each)

1 egg

Apple juice (added to beaten egg to make up to 1/4pint of liquid)

Basic Icing for decoration

Method:

Pre-heat the oven to 160 °C and grease and line your baking tin with grease proof paper. (baking parchment)

Add the flour, salt, ground ginger and stem ginger into a bowl and mix together.

Put the margarine together with the syrup/treacle and brown sugar into a saucepan. Heat gently on the hob till all the butter has melted and the sugar has dissolved.

Crack and egg into a jug and pour in the apple juice to make up to 1/4 pint of liquid.

Now add the warm syrup mixture to the flour along with the egg mixture and gently fold until everything is combined. Do not beat the mixture!

Pour into the tin and put in the oven for approx. 30 mins

The ginger cake is cooked when it has a nice even colour, it bounces back when touched, the edge of the cake is starting to come away from the tin and a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.

Allow to cool completely before icing. If you want some tips on making up icing follow this link. Icing and Buttercreams

Once the icing is set, cut into fingers and enjoy!

I hope you have fun with this recipe and have a go at adjusting it till you get your favourite. Let me know how you get on in the comments.