Ginger and Orange Cake
This cake is utterly delicious, keeps well in a tin for at least a week and in fact improves after sitting in a tin for a couple of days after baking. This cake is made using the “rubbed in” method which is not seen often these days – a handy cake to make if you have little equipment.
Ingredients
200g Self Raising Flour
pinch salt
40g butter at room temperature cubed
40g lard at room temperature (or use all butter if you prefer) cubed
100g Caster sugar
1 heaped tablespoon marmalade
Finely grated zest of 1 large orange plus the juice
1 tsp ground ginger
100ml milk
1 egg
80g Stem ginger (from a jar of stem ginger in syrup) or 2-3 tbsp grated fresh ginger
1 tbsp demerara sugar or sugar nibs to sprinkle over
You will need an 18cm cake tin – brushed with lining paste and base lined with paper
Preparation
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees centigrade (fan)Start by prepping the stem ginger – wash under the cold tap, dry on kitchen roll then cut into small dice. Take then 1 tbsp of the weighed self raising flour and dust the ginger to coat thoroughly. Set aside.
In a medium sized bowl place the self raising flour, salt, butter and lard then rub in together just as you would for pastry. The mixture needs to be looking like fine breadcrumbs. Add then the ginger, sugar, zest, marmalade, juice and give a stir. Add then the egg followed by the milk. Add the milk a little at a time until you achieve a soft dropping consistency. You will probably need all the milk but add it gradually just in case. Finally fold in the chopped ginger.
Transfer to the prepared tin then sprinkle over either the demerara sugar or the sugar nibs.
Bake for 35-45 minutes until the cake is golden, risen and springy to the touch.
Leave to cool in the tin for about 20 minutes before turning out onto a wire tray to cool completely. Delicious fresh but stored in a tin for a couple of days improves the texture and flavour - but if you just cannot wait to eat it – enjoy !