Sticky sour cream, golden syrup and ginger cake

Yes, I know it's another sweet recipe, but it's a festive time of year and if you can't indulge a bit at Christmas, when can you. We'll have some more savoury posts soon enough, but for now, enjoy this sugar fest.

If you're a ginger lover, this one is for you. With amazing flavours and being so moist, this cake is almost like a sticky date pudding and could be served as a warm dessert. The little people in the house did turn their noses up at it saying that the ginger flavour was too strong, but I can handle rejection. Meant more for me and Mr M! So with the strong ginger flavour in mind, it's probably not a great cake to make for kids but it will definitely be a winner with the older, wiser, more mature ones like myself of course.

I found this one in my Belinda Jeffery "Mix & Bake" book (a bible in B and M's house). In fact the cover of my copy of her book is held together by sticky tape. I know I just told you it was a bible in our house, but this particular cake I actually had not made before today. It is quite simple really and I'm not sure why I actually hadn't made it yet.....well I have a small idea why. Have you ever looked through a cook book and seen recipes that don't have any pictures and thought to yourself I wonder what it looks like? And then a recipe with a picture has caught your eye and you never bother again with the one that is picture-less? That's what happened here. Most of the recipes in the book do have pictures and it shouldn't stop me from making something, but we tend to eat with our eyes first don't we? Glad to have found another 'treasure' from Mix & Bake anyway!

You will need:

130g plain flour, plus 2 teaspoons, extra
130g self-raising flour
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
170 ml golden syrup, gently warmed
170 ml sour cream
1 1/2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest
1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
1/2 cup brown sugar
280g  unsalted butter, melted and cooled
150g pitted dates, roughly chopped
6 pieces crystallised or glace ginger, very finely sliced
icing sugar ( optional ) for dusting

1. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees . Butter a 24 or 25 com round cake tin (a springform one is fine). Line the base with buttered baking paper and dust with flour. Set aside.

2. Put the 130 g plain flour, self-raising flour, ground ginger, baking powder and salt into a large bowl and whisk them together for 1 minute.

In a separate bowl, lightly beat the eggs so they are just combined, then add the warmed golden syrup ( warming helps it pour more easily ), sour cream, lemon zest, fresh ginger, brown sugar and cooled butter.

Whisk together only until they are just well mixed.

3. Tip the flour mixture into the egg mixture and stir them together until they're combined. Toss the dates with the extra 2 teaspoons of plain flour and mix them into the batter. Scrape the batter into the prepared tin, then scatter the crystallised ginger slices over the top.

Bake for 35-40 minutes or until the cake springs back when gemtly pressed in the centre or a fine skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool the cake in the tin on a wire rack for 7-8 minutes. Gently loosen the cake around the edges and invert in onto a flat plate, then remove the tin and paper and invert the cake again onto the wire rack. Leave to cool completely.

Left over pieces are lovely when gently warmed in the microwave!!

Enjoy!