Ginger Beer Cake

I actually meant to post this last weekend, but I didn't have my camera's memory card to hand and only just got back to it yesterday (reasons will become clear shortly). Nevertheless, now is as good a time as any to share this dense and sticky Ginger Beer Cake with you.

Last weekend marked the beginning of an eight day road trip in which I saw five cities and numerous friends and family members. Highlights included: eating in a pub with such poor lighting that I couldn't see the mayonnaise under my fish, let alone what colour it was; eating a pasty (!!) or two; making the mistake of buying a raw, sugar free flapjack (I'll stick to baked, sugary ones, thanks); seeing Wales for the first time; getting a shark talk at Sea Life in Birmingham and learning that sharks haven't got scales, but thousands of mini teeth to help with hygiene and swimming. The best part, though, was catching up with people I only see once or twice a year - it had been eighteen months since I'd seen my friend in Birmingham!

I made this cake as a traybake because I was in a hurry and got up an hour earlier than normal in order to make it in time for someone's last day at work. The cake went down very well, but if you don't like fiery ginger then I would suggest finely chopping the stem ginger. I go for a very loose chopping approach and end up with cake strewn with gingery lumps.

I added some Newcastle Brown Ale to the batter because I wanted to enter my Baking With Spirit challenge, and I had an inkling that it would complement the ginger nicely. The taste of ale is muted but definitely there, and I was right: the flavours work together very well.

Ingredients

• 200g Butter
• 100g Caster Sugar
• 150g Dark Muscovado Sugar
• 3 Eggs
• 3 Pieces Stem Ginger
• 50ml Syrup from Stem Ginger Jar
• 100mL Newcastle Brown Ale (any beer will do)
• 200g Plain Flour
• 1 Tsp Baking Powder

Recipe

• Preheat oven to 200C/180C fan and line a traybake tin with baking parchment.
• Cream the butter with the caster and dark muscovado sugars until light and fluffy.
• Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until the batter is smooth.
• Chop the stem ginger to your liking, then fold into the batter.
• Stir in the stem ginger syrup and the beer until smooth.
• Sieve the flour and baking powder into the batter, then fold in until well combined.
• Pour the batter into the baking tin and bake for 22 mins, or until a skewer comes out clean and the cake bounces back when gently prodded.

As I mentioned above, this is my entry to September's Baking With Spirit challenge, hosted by yours truly. This month I asked you to bake with a type of alcohol that you have acquired a taste for over the years. Beer is a drink that I have always liked to smell (yes I'm weird) but never liked until the past few months. I think I still prefer the lighter beers, but I did like sipping the Newcastle Brown Ale I bought for the cake. (You might recall that I spent four years studying in Newcastle, so I thought I'd better try their ale).

Today is the deadline to add your entry, so if there's anything you want to enter you had better get a move on.