There’s a lot of pumpkin around at the moment. Like, a lot. So it’s definitely time for something different. As a child, my favourite biscuits were ginger snaps, and those REALLY gingery ones with the dark chocolate on them. I have many fond memories of dipping ginger snaps in tea and seeing how long they would last without breaking, then savouring the warm, gooey gingery-ness that resulted. So I wanted to make it in cake form.
And I wanted it to be unmistakably ginger. And chocolate of course. That’s why there is both powdered ginger, and fresh ginger in this cake. The fresh ginger keeps it beautifully moist, and the ground ginger gives the cake a real earthy warmth.
It’s the kind of cake I can imagine having a slice of, with a cup of tea, on my sofa on a Saturday afternoon when the rain is beating down on the windows and I’ve got my big winter socks on. The kind of cake that warms you from the inside. And I’ve tried to make it as simple as possible… you do need 4 bowls (2 for each of the mixtures) but I promise it’s worth the extra washing up!
Just out of the oven, the marble pattern can just be seen lightly on the top. If the loaf springs back when gently pressed and a skewer comes out clean, it’s done. Let it cool in the tin for 10 minutes then turn it out onto a cooling rack. Allow to cool fully before icing, then enjoy!
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Chocolate and Ginger Loaf Cake
Ingredients
Chocolate Cake Mix
80g Flour
3 Tbsp Cocoa Powder
110g Butter
110g Caster Sugar
2 Eggs
1 Tsp Baking Powder
30g Chocolate Chips
Ginger Cake Mix
110g All Purpose Flour
110g Butter
110g Caster Sugar + 1 Tbsp Molasses*
2 Eggs
1 Tsp Baking Powder
1 Tsp Ground Ginger
1 Tsp Ground Cinnamon
1 Tbsp Grated Fresh Ginger (from about a 3cm piece of ginger, peeled)
*You can substitute this for 110g brown sugar with no molasses. The molasses is only necessary if you only have white sugar.
Icing
30g Icing Sugar
1 Tsp Orange Juice
Steps
You will need a 2lb loaf tin. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees Celcius.
1. If you have brown sugar, you can skip this step. If you only have caster sugar, use a fork to mix 1 Tbsp molasses with the caster sugar in a bowl until fully combined. This will take a while and will seem really weird, but if you keep going with the fork it will come together –Â you will then have nice, sticky brown sugar!
2. To make the ginger cake mix, cream together the butter and the brown sugar until pale and fluffy; this will usually take about 2 minutes. Add the eggs and mix thoroughly with the butter and sugar mixture until smooth.
3. In another bowl mix together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and ground ginger and mix so the dry ingredients are evenly distributed. Add to the wet ingredients and mix until smooth, but do not over-mix. Stir in the grated ginger.
4. To make the chocolate mixture, cream together the butter and sugar in the same way as for the ginger cake, then add the eggs and mix until smooth.
5. In another bowl mix together the flour, baking powder, cocoa powder and chocolate chips and mix so the dry ingredients are evenly distributed. Add to the wet ingredients and mix until smooth, but do not over-mix.
6. Line the loaf tin with grease proof paper and spoon in alternate spoonfuls of the ginger and chocolate mix until the tin is about 2/3 full. If you have left over mixture, either scoop into cupcake cases or mini loaf tins. Once the tin is full, run a knife randomly through the mix to create a marble pattern – don’t do this too much otherwise the mixtures will mix together rather than create a marble effect!
7. Bake at 170 degrees celcius for 45-55 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. While the cake is baking, mix the icing sugar with the orange juice to make a runny but thick glaze. Once the cake has cooled, drizzle the glaze over the top.
8. Slice, and enjoy.
