I've found another good recipe using oil instead of butter, which is just as well, as CT's diet is working really well at reducing his cholesterol - but that means he's got to stick to it!
I've called this golden gingerbread to distinguish it from the darker cakes which include black treacle - there was only light muscovado sugar and golden syrup in this recipe. I used
this recipe, but made a few changes, because I didn't want to add a frosting. I included the zest of a large orange in the cake, and added 4 nuggets of stem ginger and about 50g of candied orange peel, both finely chopped. These changes were good for the flavour, but the pieces of ginger and peel mostly sank to the bottom, so were not such a good idea!
Translating the recipe from cups to weights gave me - 180g plain flour, 90g SR flour, 200g brown sugar, 180mls olive oil and milk, and 300g golden syrup. That's 500g sugar in one small cake - it sounds much less as 2 cups!!
I baked the cake in a 10" (25cm) square tin but think it would have been nicer as a deeper cake in a smaller tin. This was a pleasantly flavoured cake, with the right amount of ginger, but I think I still prefer the dark gingerbreads, where the black treacle adds a bitter edge to the sweetness.
Glad the diet is helping CT. The cake looks lovely!
ReplyDeleteI do love a simple cake like this, just packed with flavour but not fussy, thanks for the recipe x
ReplyDeleteIs it strange that I don't like the taste of gingerbread but I love the smell and baking it always makes me feel so cosy and warm!
ReplyDeleteThat looks delicious. I'm so impressed by the range of cake recipes you've managed to find that don't use butter or other sat fats.
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear the low sat fat is helping CT's cholesterol.
This looks really good! I'd love to try it without butter. And I agree with other bloggers here, it is impressive to see how many recipes you've shared with us that have oil instead of butter. Great work
ReplyDeleteThat's fantastic that CT's diet is working! The ginger and peel sound like nice additions, Suelle, even if they did sink! :)
ReplyDeleteCelia - it will be interesting to see if the slight alterations in the family's diet - no butter in baking, less red meat, more fish etc - has made any difference to my and Hub's cholesterol levels. We are both on medication for high cholesterol.
ReplyDeleteGood news that CT's choesterol is going down - well done all of you. I like a good dark gingerbread too, but this also sounds good. I still haven't used olive oil in cake baking - I keep meaning to try it. Could you taste it through the ginger?
ReplyDeleteChoclette - I don't use really strongly flavoured olive oils. The only time I thought it might be the dominant flavour was in a light citrus flavoured cake - it certainly wasn't really evident here. I'm sure the recipes would work just as well with other oils too, so you could choose a more neutral, tasteless, oil if you were worried.
ReplyDeletemmmhhhh....ginger bread...yum!!!
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