The Best Ginger Cake... EVER

I whipped up a batch of these to munch while ringing in the New Year, warming and sugary these hit the spot every time. Easy to make, these take around an hour from start to finish and can be made as cupcakes or a full cake. I'm currently all about individual portions of cake, like cupcakes as they are so easy to transport and even easier to eat!  This recipe is very moist and works well with gluten-free flour too. I tested this recipe on my wonderful friend Mhairi and in her words "OMFG! This is the best ginger cake ever" so get baking...

Ingredients:

For the cakes: 

200g self-raising flour

200g muscavado sugar 

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

55g butter 

2 tsp ground ginger 

2 tbsp golden syrup 

240ml hot water 

1 egg

4 balls of ginger from a jar of ginger in syrup 

For the icing: 

55g butter 

220g icing sugar 

2 tbsp syrup from a jar of ginger in syrup

Crystallised ginger to decorate 

Method:

Preheat your oven to 180c and pop the kettle on to boil. In a food processor, blitz the balls of ginger until they become paste-like. Take a large bowl and add the flour and butter, rub together to combine until it forms breadcrumb-like bits. Add in the other dry ingredients and mix thoroughly. Add in the ginger paste, golden syrup and egg and mix again. Slowly add the boiling hot water mixing gently all the time to ensure everything combines. 

I made 12 cupcakes with this recipe, placing cupcake cases in a muffin tray for less spillage but this also makes 2 6in cakes, ideal for an indulgent treat. Place around 4 tbsp of batter in each cupcake case and bake for roughly 15 minutes until a skewer comes out clean. This mixture is quite sloppy so do be careful popping it in the oven. Once the cakes are baked, take them out of the tray and place on a wire rack to cool.  

Take the food processor again, I don't tend to rinse mine as little bits of ginger in the icing add to the flavour, and whizz together the butter and icing sugar until little crumbs are formed. Slowly add in the syrup until the mixture resembles whipped cream. 

Once the cakes are cooled, spread them generously with icing and top them with a few lumps of crystallised ginger. 

When you make these please tag me using #diaryofadefectivehousewife, I would love to see your creations.

Mince Pies

One of my all time favourites for the festive season, I decided to make my own mince pies from scratch this year. This recipe uses a generous amount of brandy which gives a gorgeous warmth to the pies but it could be swapped out for orange juice for a more child friendly recipe. These aren't difficult to make although they do require some organisation as the mincemeat needs to be left for a few days to soak. Perfect as an after dinner treat or with a mug of hot chocolate, these mince pies are a real winter warmer.

Ingredients:

For the mincemeat:
250g currants
250g mixed fruit
250g sultanas
100ml brandy
zest and juice of 1 lemon
300g butter
250g dark brown sugar
1 medium bramley cooking apple
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp nutmeg

For the pastry:
225g plain flour
100g butter
3 tbsp water

Method 

Prepare the mincemeat at least 48 hours before you want to make the mince pies, if possible, the longer its left the better.

Place the currants, mixed fruit and sultanas in a bowl with the brandy, lemon juice and lemon zest and leave to soak for an hour. Melt the butter over a low heat. Grate the apple making sure to collect the juice. Add all the ingredients into the bowl and stir thoroughly making sure everything is well mixed together. Place the mince meat in air tight containers and leave to soak.

For the pastry, place the flour and butter in a large bowl and rub together between your thumb and fingers until it looks like bread crumbs. Add a water a little at a time until the dough comes together. Be careful at this point, if the dough is too wet it will stick to everything and leave a soggy bottom. Place the dough in a large freezer bag and kneed gently to ensure everything is brought together. I find this a great way to make sure it all sticks together without making a mess on the counter. Place in the fridge to chill for at least 15 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 180c. I used a muffin tin to make these as it makes a really nice size of mince pie. Add a little flour to the base of the muffin tray to prevent the pastry sticking. Take a two round cutters, one roughly the size of the muffin cups and one around 3cm larger.

Flour your work surface and rolling pin and roll out the pastry to roughly the 3mm in thickness. Turn the pastry while rolling to ensure an even roll and flip it over after the initial couple of rolls to prevent it sticking to the surface. Using the cutters, cut out an even number of each size to make the bases and lids. If you find the pastry sticks slightly, use a fish slice to lift it gently.

Place the larger circle of pastry into the muffin tray, pushing down gently with your finger to fit it into the tray. Take your mincemeat and give it a good mix. I used roughly 2 tsp of mincemeat per mince pie, I love them well filled. Place the smaller circle of dough over the top and use your fingers to gently bond the edges together. Repeat this process until you have used up the cut out dough, then ball up the scraps and repeat the rolling and cutting process until there is too little dough left to use.

Bake the mince pies for around 15-20 minutes until golden on top. Leave in the tins to cool for 10 minutes before turning out on to a wire rack. These will be incredibly hot inside so I would advise leaving them to cool a little, no matter how incredible they smell.

When you make these please take a picture and tag me using #diaryofadefectivehousewife

Ginger Biscuits

Another festive treat, these biscuits are easy to make and even easier to eat. The crisp biscuit combined with the warmth from the ginger and cinnamon makes these very satisfying to crunch your way through far to many. I used a medium shaped star cutter for these biscuits, any other shape of cutter can be used. I was also in a lazy mode and didn't ice these but I will include a simple icing recipe that can easily be drizzled over the top. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

For the biscuits:
350g plain flour, plus extra for rolling out
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
4 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp cinnamon
125g butter
175g light brown sugar
1 egg
4 tbsp golden syrup

For the icing:
300g icing sugar
2 tbsp water - you may need more or less

Method:
Place the flour, bicarbonate of soda, ginger, cinnamon and butter in a food processor and pulse until it resembles bread crumbs (you can also rub it in by hand but this will take more time). Add in the sugar and mix again. Crack the egg into a bowl and add the golden syrup and beat together, I found this helps the golden syrup not to clump everything up. Add this in slowly mixing all the time. Once the dough has come together, place in a large freezer bag and kneed gently until it becomes smooth. Place the bag in the fridge for at least 20 minutes for the dough to set.

Preheat your oven to 180c fan. Take a large baking tray and dust lightly with flour. Lightly duct your work surface and rolling pin with flour and dip the cutting edge of the cutter in the flour as well to prevent the dough sticking. Take the dough from the fridge and flatten using your hands into a rough circle. Take the rolling pin and work from the centre out using gentle pressure, turning the dough with each roll and flipping the dough over a couple of times to ensure a smooth and even roll. Roll the dough to approximately 5mm thick.

Using your cutter, cut out as many biscuits as you can from the rolled out dough. Carefully peel the excess dough away and use a fish slice to remove the cut outs from the work surface and gently place them on the baking sheet, leaving around a 5mm gap between each as they expand when baked. Gather together the left over dough and gently kneed into a ball. Repeat the rolling out process until there is too little dough left to make anything.

Bake these biscuits for around 12 minutes until they are golden brown. They should still be slightly soft to the touch as they will harden as they cool. Place the tray of biscuits on a wire rack and leave to cool for 15-20 minutes. Remove the biscuits and place on the wire rack to finish cooling.

Once the biscuits are completely cool to touch, place the icing sugar in a bowl and gently mix in the water, a teaspoons worth at a time. Add water until the icing resembles double cream and coats the back of a spoon without dribbling off. Take a sandwich bag and put the icing inside. Cut off one of the bottom corners and use to drizzle the icing over the biscuits. You could also dip a spoon in the icing and drizzle it over.

These went down a real treat with my friends and family and are relatively simple to make. Please tag me using #diaryofadefectivehousewife when you bake these.

Chocolate and Cherry cupcakes

I made a version of this a few years ago and when thinking of ideas to make for the team at my other half work, I came up with these. The blend of chocolate and cherry is a total classic while the addition of a good dollop of stem ginger takes these cupcakes to another level. Relatively simple to make, these are a real showstopper.

Ingredients:

For the cupcakes:
6 oz self raising flour
6 oz caster sugar
6 oz butter
1 tsp baking powder
3 eggs

3 tbsp cocoa powder
3 balls of ginger in syrup

Additions and icing:
Cherry Jam
1oz butter
6 oz icing sugar
2 tbsp ginger syrup
1 tbsp cocoa powder
glace cherries to top

Method:

Preheat the oven to 160 fan. Prepare your cupcake cases in a tray, I use a muffin tray as there's less risk of spillage. Mince the ginger to a thick paste like consistency (I use a food processor) and place to one side. Use the food processor or a bowl and electric whisk (I prefer the electric whisk) to combine the cake ingredients together slowly before adding the ginger in at the end to prevent a sticky ball of mess. The mixture should resemble gently whipped cream in consistency when its done.

Spoon the mixture carefully into the cupcakes cases, I find around a tablespoon and a half is the perfect amount per case. Place in the oven and bake for 15 - 20 minutes until a skewer comes out clean. Place on a wire rack to cool.

Once the cupcakes have cooled, cut a dip in the centre using a sharp knife or a cupcake corer if you have one. Spoon in around a teaspoon of the cherry jam and pop the cake you cut out back on top. Blend the cocoa powder, icing sugar and butter together and slowly add the ginger syrup until the mixture comes together and resembles a thick cream in texture, you may need a little more or less of the syrup depending on the day. Either spread or pipe the icing onto the cupcakes and top with a glace cherry if you haven't scoffed them all before you use them. Glace cherries are a massive weakness of mine and I usually eat more than ends up in the bakes.

Leave these to set if you can possibly bear it and then scoff as many as possible. When you makes these, please tag me using #diaryofadefectivehousewife.