As a child, ‘Mrs Arnold’s Ginger Cake’ was always a great favourite. I had the recipe, stuck in my recipe scrapbook but somehow the page was lost. By chance, I found a very similar recipe in a magazine. The result is just as good. On Madeira they sell locally produced treacle which I use whenever I can. It isn’t too dense and has a lovely flavour. We shall be on Madeira next week and I will be sure to stock up with some more.

Line a large baking tray with parchment. Oven at 170°C.

150g butter
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp powdered ginger
2 tbsp treacle
1 tsp syrup
125g soft dark sugar
1 tbsp finely grated fresh ginger (or 4 pieces of crystallized stem ginger blended to a pulp in a little of their syrup)
250ml full fat milk
2 large eggs
300g plain flour
1tsp bicarbonate of soda

Melt the butter and pour it into a large mixing bowl. Stir in the cinnamon, ground ginger, treacle, syrup and fresh or crystallized ginger. Beat the eggs and add these together with the milk. Sift the flour and add this by degrees, mixing well between each addition. Sifting and mixing well are important to avoid little white ‘dots’ of flour being found in the cake.

Mix the bicarbonate of soda with two tablespoons of warm water and pour this over the cake mixture. Mix well and pour the mixture into the baking tray.

Bake for about 45 minutes. The cake is done when the top is firm. Leave the cake in the tray for about 15 minutes before turning it out. I trim the outside pieces which are an immediate treat and cut the main cake into two. One piece I wrap and store in the deep freeze, the other is wrapped and left for a day or two to become sticky.

Cut into slices, as large or dainty as you choose.