Gingerbread Loaf Recipe

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Old-Fashioned Gingerbread Loaf Recipe, beautifully spiced and moist with a tangy lemon icing. It's a family-friendly loaf cake that goes wonderfully well in the cold months, particularly in the festive season. It's warming and cosy, and so easy to make with zero fuss and very little prep.

Prep Time20

Cook Time50

Cooling Down1

Total Time2 10

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: British

Servings: loaf

Calories: 3188kcal

Author: Daniela Apostol

Ingredients

225 g self-raising flour (1 ¾ cup)
100 g butter (½ cup)
100 g dark brown sugar (½ cup)
100 g black treacle (molasses, ¼ cup)
100 g golden syrup (or honey, ¼ cup)
1 medium egg
2 tablespoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
275 ml milk (9 floz)
100 g icing sugar (confectioners' sugar, ¾ cup)
juice and zest from half a lemon

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius (340 Fahrenheit).
In a pan set over a medium heat, add the butter cut into cubes, dark brown sugar, black treacle and golden syrup, and use a spatula to mix well until the butter is melted, and you have a smooth mixture.
In a large mixing bowl, sift the flour, add the bicarbonate of soda and spices, and mix really well.
Beat the egg and add it to the flour together with the milk and cooled butter mixure.
Use a spatula to mix well until you have a smooth batter.
Butter and flour a loaf tin, and spread the batter evenly.
Bake for 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Remove the cake from the oven, and allow it to cool down slightly in the loaf tin.
Run a sharp knife around the edges of the loaf, the cake will come out easily.
Leave it to cool down completely on a cooling rack.
To make the icing, sift the icing sugar, add half a tablespoon of the lemon juice, and mix well to get a slightly runny smooth mixture, adding more lemon juice if needed.
Spread the icing over the cake, and top with lemon zest.

Video

Notes

Allow the cake to cool down completely before adding the icing to the top. If the cake is still warm, the icing will melt and make a mess.
Don't make the icing too far in advance, as it will harden pretty quickly. Once the cake has cooled down, you can make the icing and spread it over the cake quickly, it sets in 5-10 minutes at room temperature.
The black treacle is really sticky, I find that dipping a spoon in oil and then using it to spoon the treacle helps massively. In this way, the treacle falls off the spoon a lot easier.
Make sure you mix the dry ingredients really well before adding the wet ingredients. If the spices and not mixed well with the flour, the cake will not have an even colour.

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