MINI GINGER CAKES
December 04, 2016
Happy December!
Ginger cake is something that we love to make (and eat!) all year round! But ginger is a flavour loved by all particularly around Christmas time in the form of cakes, biscuits and lattes.
This is another family recipe that we're not quite sure where it came from, but was probably found in a Good Food magazine. It's a sticky and spicy ginger sponge with a gorgeous lemon buttercream. We usually make this as a whole cake; two layers of sponge (around 8 inches) with buttercream in the middle and just a dusting of icing sugar on top. Using the exact same recipe we have made 6 little cakes with some crumbs left over for a delicious ginger cake jar.
Here is how to make them...
Ingredients:
For the cake...
2 1/2oz sugar
2 1/2oz oil
6oz golden syrup
6oz hot water
1 egg
2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp mixed spice
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
8oz self-raising flour
For the buttercream...
juice of 1 lemon
2oz butter
11oz icing sugar
Preheat your oven to 170°C/150°C Fan/Gas Mark 3, and line a square or rectangular tin with greaseproof paper (we used a 12x8 inch tin).
2 1/2oz sugar
2 1/2oz oil
6oz golden syrup
6oz hot water
1 egg
2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp mixed spice
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
8oz self-raising flour
For the buttercream...
juice of 1 lemon
2oz butter
11oz icing sugar
Preheat your oven to 170°C/150°C Fan/Gas Mark 3, and line a square or rectangular tin with greaseproof paper (we used a 12x8 inch tin).
Making the sponge is really quick and easy!
Start by mixing together the oil, sugar, golden syrup, hot water, egg and spices. Then add in the self-raising flour and bicarbonate of soda and combine to make a smooth batter.
Pour your mixture into your lined baking tin, and pop into the oven for 30 minutes or until golden brown.
Once out the oven, transfer the sponge to a cooling tray and leave to cool.
Using a circular cutter, cut circles from your sponge. (We made 12.) You will want to try and get as many out as possible without leaving too much leftover but remember that you will need an even number! And we have a fun way to use up your leftover crumbs so make sure to scroll right to the end!
To make the buttercream, beat together the butter, icing sugar and lemon juice. If you need to thicken the buttercream, just keep adding more icing sugar.
You can fill the cakes with buttercream however you like. We chose to pipe ours swirling from the inside out so that it would look super pretty from the outside! Pipe 6 of the cakes and them pop the other 6 on top.
We chose to mix up our decoration and have some with buttercream and some without. For the ones with buttercream, we piped as before and then sprinkled some little gold edible stars on top. It would also be very cute to use little gingerbread man sprinkles.
For the ones with dusted with icing sugar we made a star template to make them a little more festive. You could make a template in any shape you want like little Christmas trees or stars or literally anything.
We absolutely love this ginger cake! The cake itself is a gorgeous sticky, spicy, ginger cake and paired with the zingy lemon buttercream, it is divine! The cake is even better the next day because it gets even more sticky and tastes even more yummy.
Instead of just eating the leftover crumbs and squirting the leftover buttercream into our mouths we made these pretty little ginger cake jars, by layering the cake and buttercream and sprinkling with little stars. They would be perfect for a dinner party or maybe even for a festive present! We got these jars from Home Bargains for just a few pounds, and then tied these Christmassy ribbons around to make them a bit more festive!
Thank you so much for reading our post!
We really hope you've had a fab start to December and that you are starting to feel Christmassy already, we certainly are!
What are your favourite treats to eat on the run up to Christmas?
Please leave a comment letting us know what you think of the recipe or if you have tried it!
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See you soon,
Love, Antonia and Imogen x
