Preparation

• 1
  1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees, 160 degrees fan oven. 2. Lightly grease a baking tin, about 22cm square, then line the bottom with baking parchment.
• 2
  3. Sift the flour into a bowl, then add the bicarbonate of soda and the spices and mix together.
• 3
  4. Cut the butter into pieces and place in a saucepan with the ginger syrup, golden syrup and black treacle. Heat gently, stirring constantly, until the butter has melted and everything is combined. Stir in the water little by little. Turn off the heat.
• 4
  5. Break the eggs into a small bowl and beat them. Chop the stem ginger into very small pieces.
• 5
  6. Gradually pour the butter and treacle mixture into a dip in the middle of the flour, stirring constantly until everything is combined. Then add the beaten eggs and mix well. Finally, stir in the chopped stem ginger and pour the cake mixture into the prepared tin, making sure there are no bubbles by knocking it gently on the work surface a few times. Bake in the preheated oven for about 35 minutes, or until the edges are starting to come away from the tin and a skewer comes out clean.
• 6
  7. Allow the cake to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then carefully tip it upside down onto a cooling rack and peel off the baking parchment. Allow to cool completely.
• 7
  8. To make the icing, sift the icing sugar and the ground ginger into a bowl and very gradually stir in cold water until it is the right consistency to spread. Turn the cooled cake back up the right way and spread the icing evenly all over the top.
• 8
  9. Cut the stem ginger into little pieces and dot them all over the cake, pressing them gently into the icing. Allow the icing to set before cutting into squares. Store in an airtight tin.