Lakeland Gingerbread Cake
Given here are three authentic and very traditional gingerbread recipes from the Lake District region (Cumbria) of North-West England. Each of these gingerbread recipes are unique and specific to the local area they originate from within the Lakes, perhaps most interesting of all is the Dalton Gingerbread recipe using lard and black treacle.
The Gingerbread recipes below are from: ‘Recipes Of Lakeland: Collected By Cumbria’, published in 1966 from readers of ‘Cumbria’ newspaper. The weights and measures have been adapted for the modern kitchen and the methods expanded to aid explanation.
1. Lakeland Gingerbread Recipe
Recipe Ingredients:
- 250g plain flour
- 115g natural brown sugar (Demerara)
- 115g butter, softened
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
Recipe Method:
Preheat the oven to 180C
Grease a shallow baking tray or tin with a little butter
In a mixing bowl sift in the flour, add the sugar, ground ginger, baking powder and sea salt. Mix it in with a spoon. Then rub in the softened butter to the dry ingredients with your fingers, bringing everything together into a moist, but grainy paste.
Pack this gingerbread paste into the shallow greased baking tray, spread it out evenly, and bake in the oven at 180C for 20 minutes.
After baking remove from the oven. Leave to cool for about ten minutes, and cut into fingers, placing them on a wire rack to cool. Do not leave too long or it will be too hard to cut. When cold, put into an airtight tin.
2. Grasmere Gingerbread Recipe
Recipe Ingredients:
- 225g butter
- 225g soft brown sugar (Muscovado)
- 1 tbsp golden syrup (corn syrup) – 2 tbsp if a hard gingerbread is desired
- 500g plain flour
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1 tsp cream of tartar
- 1 tbsp ground ginger
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 50g of finely chopped mixed candied peel
Recipe Method:
In a mixing bowl beat together the butter and soft brown sugar, then stir in the golden syrup (corn syrup).
In another mixing bowl sift in the flour, bicarbonate of soda, cream of tartar, and the candied peel.
Slowly add the dry flour ingredients to the mixing bowl with the creamed butter and sugar. The mixture will be dry and crumbly, but do not add any liquid.
Grease a shallow baking tray or tin and preheat the oven to 150C
Put the gingerbread mixture into the greased tin and pack it down a little, spreading it out evenly. Bake in the oven at 150C for one hour.
The gingerbread will be crumbly on top, but firm underneath. After baking remove from the oven. Leave to cool for about ten minutes, and cut into fingers, placing them on a wire rack to cool. Do not leave too long or it will be too hard to cut. When cold, put into an airtight tin.
3. Dalton Gingerbread Recipe
Recipe Ingredients:
- 350g plain flour
- 250g lard, softened
- 120g sugar
- 125g black treacle (molasses)
- 200ml boiling water
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 2 tsp ground ginger
Recipe Method:
In a mixing bowl sift in the flour then rub in the softened lard with your fingers until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
Into this mixing bowl add to the flour and lard: the baking powder, (but not the bicarbonate of soda) the ground ginger, sea salt, and sugar. Mix this in thoroughly. Then add and mix in the black treacle (molasses). Mix everything thoroughly.
Grease a baking tray or tin with butter and preheat the oven to 160C
In a jug add the boiling water and mix in the bicarbonate of soda – stir it in – and then add this to the gingerbread mixture in the bowl, stirring it in fully.
Pour the completed gingerbread mixture into the greased baking tray and bake in the oven at 160C for 30 minutes.
After baking remove from the oven. Leave to cool for about ten minutes, and cut into fingers, placing them on a wire rack to cool. Do not leave too long or it will be too hard to cut. When cold, put into an airtight tin.