The Baking Biker Chic

All this Christmas baking has been great fun, but there was one thing I really wanted and that was an iced gingerbread. I’ve looked for inspiration hoping someone else had created a recipe that I could use but to no avail. So while I’m in a creative mood I entered the kitchen tonight determined to fix this little problem.

I made two batches – one being gluten free. I always start with standard flour first, then when I have the texture etc right I can then usually adapt to gluten free. It doesn’t always work out like that but in this case it did. And there’s hardly any left – the family were all very eager taste testers and a massive thumbs up.

My Dad said he preferred the non gluten free ones, which my Mum was happy with because it meant she gets to keep them. Although I’m being blamed for sabotaging her healthy eating plan – but it’s Christmas and I’m just about out of festive recipes now so she’ll be fine.

Ingredients – makes six individual cakes

• 105ml non dairy milk
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 50ml treacle
• 40ml sunflower oil or alternative
• 2 tsp vanilla essence
• 100g self raising flour (if using gluten free flour add 1/4 tsp Xanthum Gum even if the flour already contains it)
• 50g muscovado sugar
• 1/4tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1/4tsp baking powder
• 1 tbsp. cocoa powder
• 2tsp ground ginger (generous teaspoons)
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 pieces of stem ginger roughly chopped (optional)

For the icing

• 100g icing sugar (powdered sugar)
• 1 tsp lemon extract (optional)
• 15ml cold water (approx.)

Preparation is the secret to baking, make sure you have all the ingredients to hand before you start. I used an individual cake tin for this, however you could use muffin cases too – or make this in small round tins. You could make it in a loaf tin and then slice and if you want a bigger cake, just double, treble, quadruple the mixture.

Method

• Preheat your oven to 180 degrees centigrade and grease your baking tins or prepare muffin cases
• In a bowl or jug, add all your wet ingredients together and set aside
• In another bowl, measure and mix your dry ingredients together
• Then simply add the liquid to the dry and mix thoroughly but don’t over mix it – so use a spoon, not a machine
• Spoon into the cases or tins and place in the oven for approx. 12 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean
• Allow to cool on a wire cooling tray and while they are cooling, make up your icing.
• I think lemon icing works fantastically well – lemon and ginger tea works so why not. You get the zing of the lemon and your left with the warmth of the ginger afterwards according to my Mum
• Once the cakes are cool, spread the top with the icing and then you can sprinkle with chocolate or top with a little chopped stem ginger. I used Green & Black’s chocolate ginger grated on top – well it’s okay to indulge occasionally isn’t it?

All that’s left to do is make a cuppa coffee, tea or hot chocolate and indulge in this very exceptionally indulgent Christmas treat.