Iced gingerbread recipe

A sweet and sticky iced gingerbread tray bake that makes a perfect teatime treat.

This sponge is spiced with ground ginger for a subtle, peppery flavour, then topped with stem or crystallised ginger for a fresh, fiery kick. You can easily adjust how gingery this cake is. If you like a lot of the flavour, use stem ginger to decorate. You could even add a teaspoon of the syrup from the jar the stem ginger comes in to the sponge mixture, along with the golden syrup. If you prefer something a little more sweet and subtle, use crystallised ginger on the top. The sugary coating softens the flavour slightly. You can cut this traybake into about 15 squares. If that is more than you need, cut a section off after baking. Allow it to cool then freeze it, for icing at a later date.

Ingredients

• 175g (6oz) butter, softened
• 175g (6oz) dark muscovado sugar
• 250g (8oz) self-raising flour
• 100g (3½ oz) golden syrup
• 1 level tbsp ground ginger
• 4 medium eggs
• Stem or crystallised ginger, to decorate

For the icing:

• 350g (12oz) fondant icing sugar

You will need:

• 18 x 28cm (7 x 11in) traybake tin, lined with baking parchment

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F/Gas 5.
2. Tip the butter into a bowl and add the sugar, flour, syrup, ginger and eggs, and beat the mixture until smooth. Spoon the mixture into the lined tin.
3. Bake in the centre of the oven for 30-40 mins, or until just firm to the touch in the centre.
4. Remove tin from the oven and leave to cool for 10 mins. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Cut into cubes.
5. To make the icing: Mix the fondant icing sugar with enough water to give a soft consistency and spread it over the tops of the cubes. Decorate with ginger. Leave the icing to set before serving.

Top tips for making iced gingerbread 

The plain, uncut cake may be wrapped in a freezer bag and frozen for up to 1 month. Allow to defrost thoroughly before cutting and icing it.

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