Parkin

Just in time for Bonfire Night..

And this time I’m going local! Parkin is a traditional North-East of England cake, made with oats and treacle. Thus, it is a sweet, moist and sticky cake. And the sweet, spiced flavours are just perfect for autumn.

I didn’t know about this cake until I took a chance on it as dessert in one of my favourite restaurants. 

My mum and I were really impressed by the syrup-y sweet, dense oaty cake, which was served with banana icecream (a revelation – a complete perfect partnership!). I knew as the cold weather rolled around once again, I wanted to try my own version.

And it went down a treat! Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any treacle, but if you can, substitute 100g of the golden syrup for 100g of treacle.

Ingredients

• 200g butter
• 100g dark brown sugar
• 230g golden syrup
• 200g plain flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 100g oatmeal
• 1 tbsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 1 tsp mixed spice
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 tbsp milk or buttermilk

Method

Grease and line a rectangular traybake tray. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees.

Place the butter, sugar and syrup in a non-stick saucepan and allow to melt together over a low heat, stirring until combined.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, oatmeal and spices.

To this, add in the egg and milk and mix together. Then pour over the melted buttery sugary mixture and mix together until all combined.

Pour into your prepared tray and bake in the oven for 30 minutes.

Allow to cool in the pan and then slice into chunky squares!