Allegra McEvedy's Quick Quick Slow: gingerbread cake recipe

Makes 1 loaf

Ingredients
*100g butter, plus extra for greasing
*130g dark soft brown sugar
*2 1/2 tablespoons golden syrup
*3 generous tablespoons black treacle
*250g plain flour
*1 heaped teaspoon ground ginger
*1 teaspoon baking powder
*3/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
*Good pinch of salt
*40g preserved stem ginger, thinly sliced
*1 egg
*220ml milk
*Around 100 ml dark rum

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 150°C/130°C fan/gas mark 2. Lightly grease a 22 x 13 x 6cm loaf tin with butter, then line with greaseproof paper.

2. Put the butter, sugar, golden syrup and treacle in a pan and warm together, but don’t let the mix boil.

3. Sift the flour, ground ginger, baking powder, bicarb and salt into a mixing bowl, then stir in the stem ginger and make a well in the middle. Meanwhile, beat together the egg and milk, and set aside.

4. Stir the melted sugary liquids into the well, then using a wooden spoon, draw the flour in slowly; at first it will be a super-sticky batter, but then will bind together, form a ball and come away cleanly from the side of the bowl.

5. Swap your wooden spoon for a whisk and tip in the egg/milk mix in three stages, whisking till smooth between each batch.

6. Scrape into the prepared loaf tin and bake for about an hour until an inserted skewer comes out clean, then take out of the oven and leave to cool completely in the tin.

7. Use a skewer or thin knife to make 20–30 holes in the top of the cake reaching down to around the middle. Slowly pour in the rum until no more is visible on the top, then cover with clingfilm, tin and all.

8. Leave in a cool place for up to 10 days, feeding it with more rum if and when you feel like it: the flavour will keep developing for 4 days, then level out.

More from Quick Quick Slow:

Quick, Quick Slow by Allegra McEvedy published by Kyle Books, priced at £19.99, photography by Georgia Glynn-Smith