I’m always on the look out for gingerbread recipes and a friend recently introduced me to an amazing Nigella Lawson recipe for Chocolate Gingerbread. Once I’d made it I couldn’t believe I hadn’t discovered it before, the combination of gingerbread and chocolate makes an amazingly rich cake, and a ginger glaze really sets it off.

Chocolate Gingerbread cake ingredients:
175g unsalted butter
125g muscovado sugar
2tblsp caster sugar
200g golden syrup
200g black treacle
1/4tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp ground ginger
1 1/4tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
2 eggs
250ml milk
275g plain flour
40g cocoa
175g chocolate chips

How to make chocolate gingerbread cake:

Preheat your oven to 170° and line a large square baking tray.

Melt the butter, sugar, golden syrup, black treacle and the spice in a saucepan.

In a bowl combine the Bicarbonate of Soda with 2 tablespoons of warm water. Add the beaten eggs and milk.

Combine the milk mixture into the melted butter and sugar mixture.

Fold through the flour, cocoa and add the chocolate chips.

Pour into your lined baking tray and bake for about 45 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin.

 

How to make a Ginger Beer icing:
250g icing sugar
30g unsalted butter
1tblsp cocoa
60ml Ginger Beer

The original recipe calls for a Ginger Ale glaze but I couldn’t find any in the supermarket so I used Ginger Beer instead. I don’t think it made a difference.

Melt the butter, cocoa and Ginger Beer in a saucepan. When everything has melted add the icing sugar.

Remove the chocolate gingerbread from the baking tray, pour the Ginger Beer icing over the top. My glaze was a little runny so but cover as much of the top of the cake as you can. I finished it off with some bronze crunch (from Waitrose) sprinkled over the top.

I left the glaze to harden for 15 minutes before cutting into 12 generous portions.