Parkin

Serves 4

(Jason Lowe)

My pastry chef at the Albemarle restaurant at Brown's Hotel in Mayfair adapted this parkin recipe last year to give it more of the feel of a gingery sticky toffee pudding.

100g self-raising flour
2tsp ground ginger
A good pinch of mixed spice
A pinch of salt
30g pinhead oatmeal
175g dark brown sugar
100g butter
100g golden syrup
60g black treacle
20ml milk
1 large egg, beaten

For the ginger toffee sauce

200ml double cream
200g dark brown sugar
tsp ground ginger
150g butter

Pre-heat the oven to 175C/gas mark 4. Sift the flour, spices and salt into a bowl. Stir in the oatmeal and sugar and make a well in the centre.

Meanwhile, melt the butter, golden syrup and treacle over a low heat, whisking to emulsify, then remove from the heat and leave to cool a little. Mix into the flour mixture with a wooden spoon, then beat the milk and egg together and stir into the mixture until well mixed. Pour the mixture into a greased, preferably non-stick loaf tin, or you can use individual pudding basins, and bake for 45-50 minutes (half that time for individuals), leaving the mixture slightly soft to the touch. Leave to cool for 30 minutes or so before turning out.

For the toffee sauce: put all of the ingredients into a saucepan and bring to a simmer, stirring to ensure the butter and sugar has melted. Simmer on a medium heat for a couple of minutes, then remove from the heat. Slice the parkin into 4 pieces horizontally, spoon some of the sauce on to each slice and reassemble back into the cake tin. Re-heat in the oven for about 5-6 minutes then turn out on to a warmed serving dish for the large one or individual plates for the small versions.

Spoon over the rest of the sauce and serve with clotted cream.