Sticky ginger cake
My lovely flatmate bought me a delicious book for Christmas called Arabesque. It’s assembled by an Australian chef, Greg Malouf, and claims to be the ultimate guide to modern Middle Eastern cuisine. Well, here’s my first recipe from the book. A sticky ginger cake - warm and moist and zingy, perfect with afternoon tea or for dessert.
What you need:
220g golden syrup
170g sour cream
110g soft brown sugar
2 eggs
4 tspns fresh grated ginger
1 tspn grated lemon zest
280g butter
130g plain flour
130g self-raising flour
1 tspn baking powder
1/2 tspn salt
1 tspn ginger powder
2 tbspns unsalted, shelled pistachios (I used almonds for reasons I will explain later)
What you do:
Whisk together the golden syrup, sour cream, brown sugar, eggs, grated ginger and lemon zest. Melt the butter and whisk it into the mixture. Twice sift the flours, baking powder, salt and ginger powder. Fold into the batter, whisking gently if necessary to break down any residual lumps of flour. The batter will be fairly runny. Tip into a well-greased 20cm spring-form tin and bake for 25-45 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean.
Now, the turning point. Here the recipe instructs you to “soak the pistachios in boiling water for 2 minuites, then use a very sharp knife to peel away the skins. Pat dry and chop them finely. Sprinkly over the cake and serve with a dollop of cream”. Well, this all sounded a little too labour intensive for me so I took matters into my own hands. For an alternative topping soak a cup full of toasted almonds in a knob of melted butter and 2 tbspns of golden syrup. Spread over the cake and warm up for a further 5 minutes just before serving. The almonds should look glazed and slightly golden. I served this with a new rendition of my ice cream meringue cake which I will be posting soon.
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