Stem Gingerbread Bars

Prep: 10 mins

Cook– up to 50 mins

Ingredients (for a 9 bar cake tray, or a 9”/23cm square cake tin)

• 3 tbsp black treacle

• 3 tbsp stem ginger syrup
• 270g self-raising flour
• 2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• Pinch salt
• 2 tsp ground ginger
• 2 tsp mixed spice
• ¼ tsp ground cloves
• 150g unsalted butter
• 150g soft dark brown sugar
• 3 large free-range eggs, beaten
• 3 pieces stem ginger, chopped
• 120g dates, chopped
• 1 tsbp icing sugar

Method 

1. Heat the oven to 170 ̊C, gas mark 4 and grease and line the cake tin.
2. Warm the syrup and the treacle gently in a small saucepan. Set aside to cool a little.
3. Combine the flour, bicarbonate of soda, salt, ginger, mixed spice and cloves in a bowl.
4. In another mixing bowl, cream the butter and the sugar with an electric whisk until pale and fluffy. Then beat in the eggs until well-combined. Stir in the chopped stem ginger, the dates and the cooled syrup and treacle mix.
5. Using a metal tablespoon, gently fold in the dry ingredients and then transfer to the cake tin or bar tray.
6. Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes if baking individual bars in a bar tray, and around 50 minutes if using a cake tin, until the cake is cooked through and deep golden brown. Remove from the oven, leave to cool in the tray, and then, when completely cold, sprinkle with icing sugar.