Can you make a silk purse out of a sow's ear?

A really simple, inexpensive cake that looks a million bucks when cooked in a fancy tin.

With autumn now here every foodie article I read tells me that, in seasonal eating terms, we should be saying good-bye to the bright green and reds of summer and hello to orange. Squash, pumpkin, swede, steamed suet puddings, casseroles, and of course gingerbread in all is many forms.

I do usually eat with the seasons , mainly because that is when fresh fruit and vegetables taste at their best. I ate a peach last week that was horrid, but a Conference pear that was sublime. Doesn’t take me to tell you which was at the end of it’s road and which just hitting peak glory.

My cake today, frankly, would taste as good at a beach picnic as it will at a Halloween/Bonfire night party but it fits the seasonality idea perfectly.

This is a very thrifty recipe using milk and only one egg. It does have an incredible amount of sugar, which rather belies the fact this is a post WW2 recipe from, once again, my much missed friend Sue Laing.

Normally I make this a tray bake, in a tin 13”x8”, leave it un-iced and stored in an airtight tin, I find it keeps for 2-3 weeks, especially if like me you enjoy the last few slices thinly spread with butter.

As my daughter Jade is having some friends with their children for a sausage supper tomorrow I’ve made the cake in my fancy pants Nordic bundt tin and I’m very happy with the result. Actually the fact I managed to turn the cake out intact has given me so much joy I keep going into the kitchen to admire my work

Golden Gingerbread

Butter your chosen tin well and dust lightly with flour.

Heat the oven to 170C fan

In a saucepan mix together:

170gms butter, 275 gm soft brown sugar and 350gm golden syrup, warm, stirring until the butter has melted, then allow to cool slightly.

Sift 450gm self raising flour into a large mixing bowl, add 1 tablespoon powdered ginger and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Make a well in the centre

Measure 300ml of milk into a jug and beat in one egg.

Now combine the egg/milk mix with the cooled butter/sugar/syrup mix and stir this into the flour, mixing the batter until it is smooth. I sometime use an electric beater for this. Don’t over mix.

Pour the batter into the tin and bake for 45-55 mins, or until the cake pulls from the side of the tin and cake tester, inserted in the thickest part of the cake, comes out clean.

Cool on a rack. If you use a fancy tin allow the cake to cool for about 30 mins before turning it out.

I made a simple glacé icing with lemon juice and scattered chopped ginger on the top.