Fresh Ginger Cake

Ginger is one of my favourite root vegetables. Its taste is fantastic, and along with the health benefits, it's a no brainer! Anyway I had some old ginger which had started to grow. I want to plant the growing part soon enough, but it was such a large piece, I thought I would try to make some Ginger cake, but using fresh ginger instead. It was absolutely fantastic!

So if you are a ginger fan, give this a go! Well worth it!

I changed a few ingredients as I didn't have all of them, but that's the beauty of cooking, its like a big experiment you get to eat!

• I replaced the 1/4 teaspoon of all spice with 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon and 1/8 teaspoon of ground cloves

• I also replaced the 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda with 3/4 teaspoon of baking powder

• Finally I replaced the 1/2 cup of molasses with 3/8 cup of light brown sugar

Ingredients

1 1/4 cup of plain flour

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground all spice

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup mold molasses

1/3 cup milk

1/3 cup sugar

1/4 cup butter, melted

1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger root

1 large egg

As a substitution for 1 teaspoon of allspice, you can use 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves, and a pinch of ground nutmeg.

To substitute baking powder for baking soda, simply use three times the amount of baking powder as you would baking soda.

To substitute one cup of molasses with one of the following:

• 1 cup dark corn syrup, honey or maple syrup.

• 3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar.

• 3/4 cup granulated sugar, plus 1/4 cup water.

Method

1. Heat the oven to gas mark 4 (180C). Grease and flour 1 loaf tin (approx 8 x 4 in)

2. Combine the flour, cinnamon, all spice, cloves, nutmeg, baking soda and salt in the bowl

3. Combine the molasses, milk, sugar, butter, grated ginger and egg in a bowl. Beat until well mixed. Add the flour mixture, and beat at a low speed, scraping the bowl occasionally, until well mixed

4. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf tin and bake for approximately 30 minutes. Check the cake is fully cooked by inserting a tooth pick into the centre and it comes back out clean.

5. Once the cake is cooked, take out of the oven and let cool for 10 minutes before removing from the tin and placing on a wire rack to cool completely. You can finally sprinkle some powdered sugar on top if you so wish