Black Treacle Cake Recipe

By James Maddock

Published 05/08/2011

Black treacle seems to be one of those food products thats divides opinion - you either love it or hate it. This is due to its very strong flavour which dominates any recipe that it is used in. So it was with some trepidation that I gave this recipe a go. Thankfully I was extremely pleased with the results. The texture of the cake very much reminded me of 'Jamaica Ginger Cake' and although the black treacle taste may be slightly strong for some I found it just right. It's not the sort of cake that you'd want to 'pig out' on but a small square with a cup of tea really hits the spot.

Ingredients

• 4oz butter
• 4oz caster cugar
• 1 egg, beaten
• 10oz self-raising flour
• 12oz black treacle
• 1/2 teaspoon ginger
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• approx. 1/4 pint hot water

Method

• Put the butter and sugar in a bowl and cream them together until the mixture becomes smooth and creamy (see pictures 1 & 2).
• Next add half of the black treacle and mix well (see pictures 3 & 4 ).
• Then add half of the beaten egg and mix again (see pictures 5 & 6).
• Repeat these steps so that all the black treacle and egg is incorporated into the mix.
• Mix in the flour and the spices (see picture 7) making sure that all the flour is well mixed in.
• Add a couple of tablespoons of very hot water and mix in. If the mixture seems very stiff add a bit more water until you have a loose mixture. Hopefully your mixture will resemble picture 8.
• Spoon the mixture into a square baking tin which has been greased and floured. Level off the surface of the cake with a palette knife (see picture 9).
• Bake at 180 degrees C. for about an hour, although check after 40 minutes with a skewer. Be careful that the outside doesn't burn leaving the inside uncooked. It can take a while for the centre to be properly cooked through and you may need to reduce your oven temperature in this event.

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 60 minutes

Yield: 1 cake