The best bonfire parkin

Name: The best bonfire parkin
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 1 h
Total time: 1 h 15 min
Yield: 16
Ingredients: 100 g porridge oats; 125 g butter, plus extra for greasing; 120 g black treacle; 180 g golden syrup; 100 g dark brown muscovado sugar; 3 balls stem ginger, finely chopped (see tips); 200 g Waitrose organic light brown self-raising flour; 2 tsp ground ginger; ¼ tsp grated nutmeg; 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda; 1 medium free range egg, beaten; 4 tbsp whole milk

Martha Collison's bonfire night staple. Dense, sticky slabs of spiced parkin are exactly what you need in your coat pockets on a cold November night. If you’ve never tried parkin, think of it as the love child of a gingerbread loaf and a syrupy flapjack.

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Vegetarian

Makes16
CourseCake
Prepare15 mins
Cook1 hr
Total time1 hr 15 mins
Pluscooling and maturation

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100g porridge oats
125g butter, plus extra for greasing
120g black treacle
180g golden syrup
100g dark brown muscovado sugar
3 balls stem ginger, finely chopped (see tips)
200g Waitrose organic light brown self-raising flour
2 tsp ground ginger
¼ tsp grated nutmeg
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 medium free range egg, beaten
4 tbsp whole milk

Preheat the oven to 150ºC, gas mark 2 and line a 23x23cm square baking tin with baking parchment.
Place the oats into a food processor, spice grinder or blender and blitz until finely ground. They should look floury, with just a few small pieces of oat left for texture.
Combine the butter, treacle, golden syrup and sugar in a medium saucepan and heat on low, stirring often, until the butter melts and the mixture is completely smooth. Stir in the stem ginger.
Mix the ground oats, flour, ginger, nutmeg and bicarbonate of soda together in a large mixing bowl. Beat the egg and milk together in a separate jug, then set aside.
Pour the melted butter-syrup mixture into the dry ingredients and use a balloon whisk to fold everything together. It will froth as the bicarbonate of soda reacts, so work quickly. Pour in the beaten egg and milk and mix until combined, then use a spatula to scrape into your prepared tin.
Bake for 50 minutes-1 hour, until firm across the top and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out with sticky crumbs, but not raw batter. Don’t overbake the parkin, or it can become dry (see tips). Leave to cool.
Once completely cold, remove from the tin. Leave it in the parchment, wrap in foil and place in a cake tin or airtight container and leave to mature in a cool dark place (a cupboard or drawer away from any heat is ideal) for a minimum of 5 days, before cutting into squares.

Cook’s tip

Stem ginger
Slicing these balls of ginger can be messy, so try placing a piece into a clean garlic crusher and using that to create finely minced shreds. Pass it through twice to create a fine texture, if preferred.

Don’t overbake
The best parkin is sticky and dense, with a chewy crumb. Maturation is important for achieving the ideal texture, but the first step to success is getting the bake right. Don’t overdo it in the oven, or the sponge will dry out and you’ll struggle to find that finger-sticking quality. Bake until just set, with a thin crust, and a few crumbs clinging to an inserted skewer.

Maturation
Ageing this cake creates the moist, chewy texture, as time allows the oats to soften and the syrup to absorb moisture from the air. It also allows the intense spicy flavours to mellow into a warming profile, rather than bringing a harsh heat. See if you can notice the difference in taste before and after.

Typical values per item when made using specific products in recipe