How to bake Anna Barnett’s chocolate and ginger cake
Published:
What is one of cook and author Anna Barnett‘s top tips for dressing your dining table? Swap out flowers for a delicious edible centrepiece like Anna’s chocolate and stem ginger cake. Bake your own with her recipe below, which makes 1 large cake with 2 layers of frosting. If you’re catering for a big crowd then double the recipe for an extra thick cake with four layers.
You Will Need
For the sponge
- Butter to grease the large springform cake tin parchment to line cake tin (20g)
- Unsalted butter (300g)
- Black treacle (300g)
- Dark muscovado sugar (450g)
- Stem ginger (5), finely diced
- Stem ginger syrup (5 tbsp)
- Large free-range eggs (3), beaten
- Plain flour (300g)
- Bicarbonate of soda (2 tsp)
- Cocoa powder (4 heaped tbsp)
- Ground ginger (1 tbsp)
- Natural yoghurt (300ml)
For the cream cheese frosting
- Butter (140g), softened
- Full fat cream cheese (540g)
- Icing sugar (260g)
- Zest of large orange (1), finely grated
Total time:
Preparation – 10 minutes
Step 1
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius. Generously grease your cake tin and line with parchment.
Step 2
Combine the butter, treacle and sugar over a medium to low heat and cook until the butter has melted. Add in the stem ginger and stem ginger syrup, remove from the heat and add in the eggs. Whisk until thoroughly combined.
Step 3
Sift the flour, add the bicarbonate of soda and add in the cocoa powder and dried spices. Next pour in the butter, syrup mixture and beat together with a whisk before finally adding in the yoghurt. Whisk again until fully combined.
Step 4
Pour the mixture into the mould and bake for around 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes or until a knife comes out clean when you slice into the cake.
Step 5
Once it’s cooled a little, turn it out of the cake tin and allow to cool on a wire rack. Once entirely cooled, take a sharp knife and cut into 3 even rounds.
Step 6
For the frosting first combine the cream cheese with softened butter, whisking until thoroughly combined then add in the icing sugar and whisk again until you have a smooth consistency with no lumps. Add in the zest and generously add between the layers. Once you’ve reassembled your cake, do a final even layer of frosting all over the sponge. Decorate with spring foliage like eucalyptus leaf.
Hungry for more of Anna’s recipes? Head to AnnaBarnettCooks.com for more delicious dishes.
Need stylish serveware to display your masterpiece? Look no further than Trouva’s serveware selection.