Ash is currently on a work jolly in Dublin, meaning Miranda and the two needy offspring have been left to fend for themselves for three days. It was therefore the perfect time to stumble upon a recipe for Sierra Leonean ginger cake (for Miranda to eat once the kids are in bed, obviously… she’s not silly enough to share it). It doesn’t even matter whether this recipe is fully authentic (although it’s from a promisingly-titled website, The African Gourmet, and apparently ginger is grown in Sierra Leone). It’s kismet. (It also isn’t a chicken stew.)
Ginger cake
Ingredients
1 1/4 cups plain flour
1 tbsp fresh ginger, grated
100g unsalted butter
2 medium eggs
1/2 cup milk (ideally whole, but semi-skimmed worked just fine)
1/2 cup caster sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
Method
1. Grease and line a loaf tin and preheat the oven to 180C.
2. Cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy.
3. Mix in the eggs, fresh ginger and vanilla.
4. Mix in the milk.
5. Mix in the flour, baking powder, ground ginger, cinnamon and salt until incorporated.
6. Pour the batter into the tin and bake for 45-50 minutes.
There’s nothing particularly remarkable or unusual about this cake, but there doesn’t always need to be. It’s moist, flavoursome and one of those cakes that gets better as it ages. On the first day of eating it, Miranda was disappointed that the ginger flavour was more subtle than she had expected. By the second day, though, it was much more pronounced. It could be argued that anything would have tasted good once both kids were asleep, but we’re going to go with ‘the cake gets better as it ages’. Today is day three so hopefully that will continue to be true!
Good Food on Bad Plates 