Parkin

This delicious, fiery cake is perfect as a snack or served with custard after a meal.

Ingredients:

1 mug of self raising flour

1 mug of rolled oats

1/2 mug brown sugar

1/2 mug demerara sugar

1/4 tsp of bicarbonate of soda

5 tsp ground ginger

6 tbsp sunflour oil

1 egg

2 tbsp of golden syrup/ treacle

1 mug of boiled milk.

Method:

1. Put all of the dry ingredients in a large bowl.

2. Pour over the wet ingredients and stir until smooth.

3. Pour into a greased roasting tin (about 9" by 9.5").

4. Cook for 45 minuites to an hour in the middle of a preheated oven at gas mark 4/ 350 F/ 180 C.

5. To check if it is cooked you can insert a metal or wooden skewer and if it comes out clean, your parkin is done.

6. Carefully turn it out onto a cooling rack and when cooled, cut into about 16 even pieces.

Parkin is a ginger cake which originated in Northern England. It is estimated it was created during the industrial revolution as oats and treacle were important parts of the diet of the working class in those times. Parkin was originally a celebratory cake and is often eaten in winter.

I absolutely love parkin, it's such an incredible comfort food and is a healthy style of cake. The ginger taste is just perfect and it leaves a gorgeous scent in the house after cooking it. When I was younger, my mum used to always make it for bonfire night to share with the people at the firework display. It's a recipe that my mum has adapted to have the perfect kick to it.

For the sugar, you can use whatever sugar you want/ have in for this recipe but 1/2 brown sugar 1/2 demerera sugar works best. Just see what you prefer and what works best for you. You can also use more or less ginger depending on what you prefer. I make this with soya milk or almond milk as a dairy alternative.

Thank you for reading, I hope you like this recipe and have fun trying it. Please let me know what you think and have a look at my other posts while you're here.