Sticky Ginger Chocolate Cake
Photography by Claire Aldous.
Fragrant with warm spices, orange zest and rich cocoa, this dense, sticky cake gets topped with indulgent chocolate ganache for a fabulous winter weekend treat.
INGREDIENTS
1½ cups golden syrup
¾ cup water
115 grams butter
¾ cup packed brown sugar
finely grated zest 1 orange
3 cups plain flour
2 tablespoons good quality cocoa
1 teaspoon sea salt
1½ teaspoons baking soda
3 tablespoons ground ginger
1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground mixed spice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Chocolate ganache
150 ml cream
75 grams butter
250 grams dark chocolate, chopped (68 per cent cocoa)
pinch sea salt
To serve
crushed honeycomb
METHOD
Lightly grease a 22cm x 7cm deep springform cake tin and fully line with baking paper.
Preheat the oven to 180°C. (not fan bake)
Put the golden syrup, water, butter, brown sugar and the zest in a saucepan over a medium heat. Stir to melt the sugar and butter then take off the heat. Cool for 15 minutes.
Sift all the dry ingredients together into a large bowl.
Add the cooled syrup and vanilla extract and mix until smooth, ensuring there are no pockets of flour in the batter.
Pour into the tin and bake on a low shelf in the oven for about 30 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cool. The cake is best made one day ahead of eating.
Chocolate Ganache: Heat the cream and butter in a saucepan and when just below the boil, take off the heat and stir in the chocolate and salt until smooth and glossy. Leave at room temperature until thick enough to spread over the cake.
Cook's note: For a cheat's honeycomb, I buy large crunchie bars, cut off the chocolate then roughly chop the honeycomb.
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