My fiancé doesn't get excited by food like I do, while I want to try everything and have the most enormous, varied list of things that I want to bake that I am unlikely to ever be able to work my way through, he is a little more set in his ways about what he likes. One of the things that he does love is chocolate cake, and he has requested that there always be a supply in the freezer in case a craving hits.
Well, the supply was running low and after a stressful day involving a scare with Ringo having possibly ingested toxic algae, leading to a trip to the vets to induce vomiting, a cake was in order. One of the other things that Damian loves is ginger, so, being bored of making the same chocolate fudge cake over and over again, I decided to combine the two flavours and make a ginger chocolate cake.
I baked a dark chocolate cake with soft brown sugar and treacle for a deeper flavour and moist crumb, almost reminiscent of gingerbread, with the ginger flavour coming from a mixture of ground ginger, chopped stem ginger and stem ginger syrup. The addition of a little glycerine helps to keep the cake moist but it is entirely optional. I iced the cake with a fluffy ginger buttercream, the sweetness of which works perfectly with the dark, damp cake.
I'm bringing this cake to the party over at Fiesta Friday, Come take a look!
serves 8-10.
(Please note: although I have provided a conversion from grams to US cup measurements I cannot guarantee the accuracy as I do not bake using cups, I thoroughly recommend investing in a digital metric scale, it is far more accurate.)
Ingredients:
Cake:
- 200g (¾ cup + 2tbsp) soft unsalted butter
- 200g (1 cup + 2tbsp) light brown soft sugar
- 2 tbsp black treacle
- 4 eggs
- 200g (1 + ⅔ cups) self-raising flour
- 50g (½ cup) cocoa powder
- 2 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 3 tbsp stem ginger syrup
- 2 tsp glycerine (optional)
- 5 tbsp milk
- 3 balls stem ginger, finely chopped
Icing:
- 200g (¾ cup + 2tbsp) soft unsalted butter
- 400g (4 cups) icing sugar
- 2 tbsp milk
- 1 tbsp stem ginger syrup
- 1 ½ tsp ground ginger
- 3 tbsp apricot jam
- 2 balls stem ginger, finely chopped
Preheat the oven to 170°C/325°F/gas mark 3, grease two 20cm round cake tins and line the bases with baking parchment. Cream together the butter, sugar and treacle in a large bowl, In a separate bowl sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and ground ginger.
Beat the eggs one at a time into the butter mixture, sift in some of the flour mixture after each addition, once all the eggs are incorporated add the rest of the flour, the stem ginger syrup, glycerine and milk, finally mix in the chopped stem ginger.
Divide the mixture between the tins and bake in the centre of the oven for 35-45 minutes until firm and a skewer inserted comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
While the cakes are cooling make the icing. Beat together the butter, sugar, milk, syrup and ground ginger with an electric mixer until smooth and fluffy. Gently warm the apricot jam until runny. Once the cakes are completely cold, trim the top of one cake to flatten it and then use a pastry brush to brush the apricot jam over the tops and sides of both cakes. Place the trimmed cake on a plate or cake stand and spread about one third of the icing over it with a palette knife, place the second cake on top and use the rest of the icing to cover the top and sides. Sprinkle the chopped stem ginger over the top or around the top edge of the cake to finish.
Lisa
One of my favorite treats is candied ginger dipped in dark chocolate. This cake must taste exactly like that! I am baking this for sure! Happy Fall and Happy FF!
hannahhossack
Mmm, I love chocolate candied ginger! and yep, this cake is pretty close! Happy FF 🙂
Selma's Table
Well I hope Ringo is ok now - no wonder cake was in order Hannah! And what a gorgeous looking and sounding cake - I have really been craving ginger cake but keep forgetting to buy treacle…Congratulations on the feature from last week - well deserved! Thank you for bringing this to the party - Happy Fiesta Friday!!
hannahhossack
Thank you 🙂 ginger is one of my favourite flavours so I always make sure that i've got a tin of treacle stashed in the cupboard 🙂 Ringo is fine thank goodness! Happy FF!
thebrookcook
Now, that's a cake! 🙂
HostessAtHeart
This cake wouldn't be safe in my freezer. I would invent stress just to have some! 🙂
Michelle @ Giraffes Can Bake
Yum! I love chocolate and ginger together, this cake sounds amazing!
mademoisellegourmande
oh wow, the cake looks amazing and probably wouldn't make it's way to the freezer in my house. 🙂 Also, how lovely of you to care for that supply. 🙂
Hope everything is fine with RIngo, though....
hannahhossack
Definitely only some of it is going to make it as far as the freezer! Ringo is fine thankfully 🙂
Lori
I love the addition of ginger! Wow! This looks so good!
Jess
The cake looks delicious- I like the addition of ginger to balance the bitterness of the chocolate. Well done 😉
Lily
What a great flavor combination, I love chocolate and ginger, thanks for sharing:)
eclecticoddsnsods
Mmmm this sounds like a greawt mix and i love ginger x
trialsinfood
The cake looks lovely! Definitely a great way to end a stressful day!
indusinternationalkitchen
wow! what a great idea to add ginger to chocolate! It looks delicious!
sarahgiebens
It looks amazing!
Shelby
Hi, thanks for all the great recipes! I've accidentally picked up dark brown soft sugar - if I use it for this chocolate ginger cake, will it work okay in your opinion or will it be disastrous?
hannahhossack
Hi Shelby, dark brown sugar will work fine 🙂