15 December, 2021
Gingerbread Loaf Cake / Cupcakes
This is a gorgeous Christmassy recipe for fans of all things gingerbread! It is adapted from recipes by ‘Jane’s Patisserie’ & ‘The Hummingbird Bakery’. The quantity of cake mixture here is enough for a 2lb loaf cake & a number of cupcakes. Make sure not to fill your loaf tin more than two thirds full with the cake mixture (the mixture is very runny, it’s meant to be, so don’t panic!) Use the excess mixture to make some cupcakes. The cake topping is a version of my usual cupcake frosting & includes even more ginger for that full on gingerbread hit. You can tone it down slightly by using a vanilla frosting, or even lemon frosting, which works really beautifully with this cake.
Ingredients for the cake:
- 225g unsalted butter
- 225g dark brown sugar
- 125g black treacle
- 375g plain flour
- 4 tsp ground ginger
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 3 eggs
- 225ml hot milk
- 2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
Ingredients for the frosting:
- 100g unsalted butter
- 200g full fat cream cheese
- 600g icing sugar
- 1 heaped tsp ground ginger
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 180C/160C Fan. Grease & line a 2lb loaf tin. Place cupcake cases into a muffin tin.
- In a heavy bottomed pan, gently heat the butter, sugar & treacle until smooth. Allow to cool for 10 minutes.
- In a large bowl, sift the flour, ginger & cinnamon together. Pour in the cooled mixture & stir to combine.
- Stir in the eggs.
- Mix the bicarbonate of soda in with the milk. It will froth & thicken a little.
- Mix the milk into the rest of the mixture.
- Pour the mixture into the loaf tin. Do not fill the tin more than two thirds. Pour any remaining mixture into the cupcake cases, again only fill to two thirds.
- Bake in the oven. The cupcakes will take 18-20 minutes, the loaf will take 50-60 minutes. Remove from oven & allow to cool on a wire rack.
- To make the frosting, sift the icing sugar & ground ginger into a large bowl with the butter & cream cheese. Use an electric mixer to beat until smooth.
- Pipe the frosting onto the loaf cake & cupcakes. Decorate with festive sprinkles or mini gingerbread men.
*A lovely alternative to the ginger frosting is lemon frosting. This works really well with the gingerbread cake & can tone down the spice for those who find the ginger cake & frosting too much! Simply replace the ginger in the frosting with 1-2 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice.
Christmas in a cake!