Ginger Cake ( recipe taken from the Guardian’s Felicity Cloake )
 
100g butter
100g dark muscovado sugar
175g self-raising flour
4 tsp ground ginger
175g golden syrup ( if you put a dusting of flour in your scales before putting in the syrup, it will not stick to the bowl and will pour out easily once weighed)
3 tablespoon ginger wine
2 beaten eggs
Walnut-sized piece of fresh ginger peeled and grated
150g candied ginger finely chopped ( I couldn’t find candied ginger, so I used Waitrose crystalized ginger and it seemed to work ok )
75g icing sugar
Stem ginger to decorate
 
Preheat the oven to 160C and line a 23cm loaf tin.
Cream the butter and sugar together with a pinch of salt until fluffy.
Sift the flour and ground ginger together and set aside.
Pour the golden syrup and a tablespoon of ginger wine into the butter mixture and mix to combine, beat in the eggs and then gradually mix in the flour.
Finally stir through the fresh and candied ginger and spoon into the tin.
Level the top and bake for 50 – 60 minutes until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean (in fact, I had to cook mine for a further 15 minutes so it was actually in the oven for 1 hour 15mins - but that might just be my oven!)

Let it cool in the tin and then if you want to put icing on the top, mix the icing sugar with the remaining ginger wine and drizzle over the top , slice the stem ginger into half-moons and arrange down the centre of the cake.

McTimoney Chiropractor John’s Orange & Poppy Seed Cake

185gms of Unsalted Butter
3 Lg Oranges (grated rind of 3 & the juice of 3)
1 Cup of Castor Sugar
3 Lg Eggs
2 ½ Cups of S/R Flour
¾ Cup of Milk
½ Cup of Poppy Seeds

Method
Cream butter & sugar

Add orange rind

Add eggs 1 by 1 and then milk

Add flour gradually and poppy seeds!

Prepare your round baking tin (preferably round with a hole) with butter & a dusting of flour

Bake in a moderate oven 180C for 40-45 mins depending on fan assisted or not

Make the orange syrup with the juice & ½ cup of castor sugar.

Reduce syrup by a 1/3 over the hob

Let cake stand for 5 mins before turning out on to a cooling rack with a plate underneath
Pour the orange syrup over the ‘hot’ cake

Collect the redundant syrup from the plate and pour over the cake once again

Enjoy this glorious cake!