ginger & salted carmel cake

This is a cake that is guaranteed to make an appearance towards the end of the year since it has such Christmassy flavours.. The warming spike of ground ginger, with crystallized and stem ginger balamced with the sweetness of ginger syrup & delicious Salted caramel is the perfect flavour combination especially at Christmas time


To make a 9 inch square cake you will need

12 oz butter
12 oz soft light brown sugar
12 oz self rasing flour
6 eggs
1 heaped tbsp ground ginger
1 tbsp crystallized ginger
1 small jar of stem ginger chopped up

For the syrup 

Syrup from the jar of stem ginger
2 tbsps golden syrup
2 tbsps of Salted caramel
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tbsp hot boiled water

Salted caramel to finish


• Preheat your oven to 160c fan

• Grease and line a square 9 inch tin, set aside

• In a freestanding mixer,  beat the sugar and butter till light and fluffy

• Add in the flour eggs and ground ginger, mix together until combined well - but dont over mix it

• Fold in the stem and crystallized ginger. Pour into the tin and bake for 45 -50 mins or until the edges of the cake slightly come away from the tin and a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the cake and set aside

• Make up the syrup by mixing all the ingredients together in a small bowl - I just used my cereal bowl

• Use a tooth pick to make tiny holes all over the top of the cake and slowly pour or brush the syrup all over the top whilst the cake is still warm and in the tin.

• Leave the cake to completely cool otherwise it will fall apart - just before serving drizzle a load of salted caramel all over the top of the cake

Yorkshire Parkin

Parkin is a cake traditionally associated with Yorkshire & is especially  eaten on bonfire night & through the winter.

It is a recipe that is very quick to make and the real patience comes after baking as it's one that should be left for anything up to 5 days before consuming it as the flavours develop and deepen resulting in a lovely sticky and fiery cake full of flavour.

For 14-16 peices you will need :

200g butter
1 large egg
200g golden syrup
85g treacle
85g light soft brown sugar
100g medium oatmeal
200g self raising flour
1 tbsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp all spice
4 stems of ginger ( with syrup reserved)

• Start by melting the butter, sugar and both syrup & treacle in a pan on a low heat. You don't need to let it simmer or reach boiling point. As soon as it's all melted, remove from the heat and set aside

• In a bowl combine the flour, spices And oatmeal and stir together till it's all incorporated.

• Chop up the stem ginger as roughly or as finely as you like and stir into the flour

• Whisk the egg and add into the cooled melted butter mixture. Add all of this into the bowl with all the dry ingredients and stir till all evenly combined.

• Pour the mixture into a 22cm square greased & lined tin.

• Bake at 140c fan for 45-50 minutes until the cake feels firm and slightly comes away from the edges of the tin.

• Leave to slightly cool, and whilst in the tin brush the top of the cake with the ginger syrup from the jar of stem ginger

• Once completely cool, cover the whole cake with greaseproof paper and place in an airtight container for a minimum of 3 days ( if you can resist ) and serve on it's own or as my kids have it, with hot custard

Sticky ginger cake

When it's cold and dark outside and we are well and truly into the swing of winter I love nothing more in the evenings than curling on the sofa with a blanket, a good book & a wedge of cake to make me all warm and fuzzy inside

My sticky ginger cake is perfect for this time of year as it's definitely sticky, moist and with the addition of both stem & ground ginger it's packed full of flavour & sure to warm you up from the inside .

To make an 8 inch round you will need :

8oz self raising flour
8 oz soft dark brown sugar
3 tbsp golden syrup
4 medium eggs
8oz butter
4 -6 peices stem ginger chopped up
2 tsp ground ginger 
Stem ginger syrup ( from the jar that the stem ginger is in )

• Start by melting the sugar, butter, golden syrup and treacle in a pan on a low heat. You don't want to simmer or boil it at all. As soon as everything has melted take it off the heat and set aside to cool.

•Grease and line a loose bottom 8 inch round tin, and set aside. Separate the syrup from the jar of stem ginger and reserve for later.

•Preheat your oven to 160c, ( fan )Chop up the stem ginger and add into a bowl with the flour, eggs, ground ginger and all spice

• Add in the cooled butter mixture and whisk everything together for a minute or two until the mixture is light and fluffy & everything has combined evenly.

• Pour the mixture into the tin and bake in for 40-45 minutes. To check the cake is cooked use a skewer inserted in the middle of the cake to check- it should come our clean. Another way of ensuring it's cooked is the cake edges coming slightly away from the tin.

•Leave the cake to slightly cool, leaving it in the tin. When the cake is just warm to to the touch, carefully poke holes over the top of the cake and pour over the reserved ginger syrup.

• Let the cake cool completely and remove from the tin. If you can ( I couldn't) leave the cake in an airtight container over night or a whole day if you can as this will help the flavours develop further and result in a richer & stickier cake .. Serve with hot custard or just on it's own.. Either way it is scrumptious

Because the cousin's wife asked

This is a recipe that's purely ended up on here due to a family member asking how to cook Chicken and potato curry and I thought it may as well be drafted up and shared with you all ... So here's my recipe for chicken and potato curry 

To serve 3-5 people you will need :

1 kg chicken thigh cut in pieces or 1 whole chicken in pieces
3 medium onions
1 frozen cube ginger 2 frozen cubes garlic 1tsp salt 3 green chillies 2 tsp curry powder 1 bay leaf 1 tin tomato 2 tbsp fenugreek leaves (methi) 2 small tins of baby potatoes / 3 medium fresh potatoes cut into quarters chopped fresh coriander to garnish 2 tsp garam masala

• Start by chopping your onions and in a heavy based pan fry in a little oil on a medium heat till softened.Add the ginger garlic and salt. Cook the onions till they are golden brown in colour.
• Add the chillies and cook till the chillies soften and slightly darken in colour. Add the tinned tomatoes, curry powder and a splash of water. Stir through then with an electric blender or masher, blend the mixture so you get a smooth masala paste.
• Add in the chicken and the bay leaf and the cleaned fenugreek leaves. Cook the chicken till lightly browned, and juices run clear and there's minimal water, you'll know its ready when masala starts to stick to the chicken and the oil will separate• 
• Finally the tinned potatoes and stir through so the potatoes absorb the masala. Add water to the chicken .. just enough to cover the chicken and simmer on a medium heat for about 10 minutes (or until it's as thick as you prefer, sometimes i leave it quite dry so it ends up a quite spicy bhuna) till the water has reduced and add the coriander garam masala just before serving.

*if using fresh potato add at this point, you will need to stand close by and stir continuously till the potatoes cook through- add a little water at a time to stop the masala from catching

Tharka Daal

This is a recipe for daal that has fried garlic as a base - this is the tharka element. It gives the dish a wonderful aroma of  garlic, combined with the fragrant spices it's so simple but full of flavour.

It's another dish that is super cheap to make, a little goes a long way and is made in just 5 steps 

The amount below will easily serve 4 people:

3 tbsp melted butter
1 small onion
1tbsp oil
1tsp mustard seeds
3 garlic cloves crushed
6-8 fenugreek seeds
1/2 inch piece crushed / grated ginger
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup /6 oz red lentils
1 pint/600ml water
2 tsp tomato puree
1 large tomato
1 1/2 tsp curry powder
1 green chilli
coriander to garnish

• In a heavy based pan, add the melted butter & oil. Finely slice the onions and add to the pan on a high heat. When browned, add in the mustard seeds and cover the pan with a lid until the mustard seeds start popping
• Take off the lid straight away, lower the heat slightly & add in the garlic, ginger, salt, fenugreek & green chilli
• Stir through, add in the tomato puree, chopped up tomato & curry powder once the garlic and ginger have browned.
• Add in the lentils & the water, simmer on a low heat for about 15 minutes
• Just before serving garnish with coriander & serve with naan or boiled rice