Mary Berry's Ginger Cake Recipe - My Gorgeous Recipes (2024)

Published: Nov 2, 2021 · Modified: May 31, 2023 by Daniela Apostol · This post may contain affiliate links · 10 Comments

Mary Berry's Ginger Cake Recipe, or Gingerbread Cake, a delicious traybake dessert with a touch of earthy spices and treacle. It's moist and light, and so flavourful, a perfect sweet treat for Bonfire Night or the Christmas season.

Another fantastic dessert by the absolute legend, Mary Berry. This time, a dessert that goes down a treat in Autumn and throughout the festive season. Its delicious blend of ginger and mixed spices are well balanced by the sweetness of the black treacle and golden syrup.

The richness of the butter adds moisture and a depth of flavours, taking this gingerbread cake to the level of perfection. It's so simple to make, with ingredients that are easy to find, and, bonus point, it's ready in about 40 minutes.

Unlike the traditional Gingerbread Man Recipe, this dessert has a very cakey texture, but taste wise, it's the same spiced sweet treat that we all love at this time of the year. I love enjoying it just as it is, as there is little else that could be added to make it even better, but you can also decorate with icing or dried nuts.

Ingredients used

• self-raising flour - it works better than the plain flour to achieve a fluffy texture
• butter - unsalted butter works best in baking
• dark brown sugar
• black treacle - or molasses
• golden syrupor honey
• egg - make sure it's at room temperature
• ground ginger
• mixed spices- pumpkin spice
• bicarbonate of soda - not baking powder
• milk - full fat milk works the best

Step-by-step photos and instructions

As promised, this recipe is simplicity in itself. As with the classic gingerbread men recipe, the wet ingredients are combined over a slow heat to make it smooth and lump free.

• in a sauce pan, add the cubed butter, sugar, black treacle and golden syrup - make sure the heat is low to prevent the mixture from burning
• use a spatula to mix well until the butter is melted and the mixture is smooth - leave to cool slightly
• in a large bowl, sift the flour, add the bicarb of soda, spices, treacle mixture, beaten egg and milk
• mix well to get a smooth batter

• pour it it a baking tray of 32x20 cm, (12x8 inches) lined with non-stick paper
• bake in the preheated oven at 180 degrees Celsius (350 Fahrenheit) for 30 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean
• leave to cool completely, then slice

Expert tips

How beautifully simple this cake it! Granted, it uses quite an amount of sugar and sugar substitutes, but it's worth every single calorie, that's for sure. After all, it's such a lovely time of the year, when the first chilly breeze that slaps us in the face is a reminder that the cold is here to stay.

And there is nothing better on a cold day than a big cup of tea and a slice of spiced cake. Taking of spices, if you are outside of the UK and want to make this cake, the best replacement for the mixed spices would be pumpkin spice, so you could call this a pumpkin spice cake.

The golden syrup can be swapped for honey, and the black treacle for molasses, without compromising on the texture/taste. Baking is all about swapping the right ingredients, and as long as the consistency is not altered, then anything goes.

Other than that, enjoy this gingerbread traybake recipe, it's spiced and earthy, beautifully baked to perfection to gives us the best dessert for the cold days to come!

Recipe FAQs

Other gingerbread recipes

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