Bake this moist and sticky stem ginger cake for a teatime treat. The zingy lemon drizzle icing perfectly balances the warming ginger notes in the sponge.

Ingredient

• 225g self-raising flour
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1 tbsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground mixed spice
• 115g butter, cut into cubes, plus extra for greasing
• 115g dark muscovado sugar
• 115g black treacle
• 115g golden syrup
• 250ml whole milk
• 85g drained stem ginger, finely grated
• 1 egg

For the icing

• 50g icing sugar, sifted
• 1 tsp finely grated lemon zest
• 1 tbsp lemon juice

Direction

Method

• STEP 1

  Preheat the oven to fan 160C/conventional 180C/gas 4. Butter and line an 18cm round, 7cm deep cake tin with greaseproof or parchment paper.

• STEP 2

  Put the flour, bicarbonate of soda and all the spices into a large mixing bowl. Add the butter and rub it into the flour with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.

• STEP 3

  Put the sugar, treacle, syrup and milk in a medium saucepan and heat, gently stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Turn up the heat and bring the mixture to just below boiling point.

• STEP 4

  Add the stem ginger to the flour mixture, then pour in the treacle mixture, stirring as you go with a wooden spoon. Break in the egg and beat until all the mixture is combined and it resembles a thick pancake batter. Pour this into prepared tin and bake for 50 minutes-1 hour, until a skewer pushed into the centre of the cake comes out fairly clean. Leave to cool completely in tin before turning cake out. (To freeze: wrap in greaseproof paper, then in cling film. Freeze for up to 1 month.)

• STEP 5

  To make the icing, mix together icing sugar and lemon zest, then gradually add lemon juice until you have a smooth, slightly runny icing, adding more juice, if needed. Drizzle icing in a zig-zag pattern over surface of cake, turn cake around and drizzle again to create the cross-hatched finish (see below). Cake keeps for up to 2 weeks stored in an airtight container.