Welcome to my first blog post! My first recipe is this easy-to-follow, fresh ginger spiced loaf cake, with an orange drizzle and sweet sugar glaze! The perfect treat for a cozy afternoon (which there will probably be many of during the next few weeks).
I chose this cake for my first recipe because of its simplicity. My aim is to encourage other people to share this journey with me and bake alongside me, so beginning with a fairly straightforward recipe seemed like the perfect thing to do! This is also the perfect time to take up a new hobby and why not learn how to bake so you can benefit in more ways than one! The base of this recipe is a simple loaf cake, to which I added the flavour combination of fresh orange and ginger. Ginger is a very popular flavour in our house, and the orange compliments the spice, bringing a freshness to the cake - as well as the drizzle saturating the sponge to give you a lovely moist cake. The cake itself isn't too sweet, which is why i added the sugar glaze (I definitely have a sweet tooth) but this is completely optional. Without the glaze, you'd probably feel less guilty about eating it - you could maybe even eat it for breakfast.
Baking is something i'm really passionate about, and i've always struggled to discover things that i am interested in. I think the reason i love baking is because i create things for other people to enjoy - not to mention myself! My family are all very supportive, I'm sure the reason is their love for me, and not just their love for cookies and cake, but they also don't hesitate to give me honest reviews. I think that's really important, i'm not a very optimistic person so some reality is always welcomed with open arms. And since they are my only critics, its important that i get honest opinions so that i can improve my baking skills. I guess that would be in their best interest too - tastier treats.
I want to use this blog to document my journey to becoming the perfect baker. I am far from that now - but you have to start somewhere! I really hope people enjoy reading this blog and try out some of my recipes for themselves. Why not try out the recipe below for my 'Orange & Ginger Loaf Cake'!
RECIPE
Ingredients:
For the cake:
- 200g self-raising flour
- 170g unsalted butter
- 200g caster sugar
- 3 large eggs (at room temperature)
- 60g whole milk
- 1tsp baking powder
- 1tsp salt
- 1tsp ground ginger
- 1tbsp fresh ginger (grated)
- zest of 1 orange
- 2tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice
For the drizzle:
- 2 tsp granulated sugar
- the juice from 1 freshly squeezed orange
For the glaze:
- 2tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice
- 75g icing sugar
TIP:
(for a thin glaze use around 50g icing sugar, and for a thicker icing to spread across the top of the cake, use around 100g icing sugar)
You will need:
- 900g loaf tin
- stand mixer with paddle attachment/electric hand mixer
- baking paper
Method:
- Grease a 900g loaf tin and line the bottom and 2 of the sides with baking paper.
- Prepare all the ingredients for the cake. Peel and grate the fresh ginger, and zest and squeeze the orange. Weigh out all of the ingredients (all of the dry ingredients can go in the same bowl).
- Preheat the oven to 180°C or 160°C fan.
- Using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar until you get a light, fluffy consistency - this should take around 2 minutes on medium speed.
- Add the eggs one at a time, mixing to combine in between each addition. Make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl regularly to ensure all the ingredients are incorporated.
- Add the orange zest, orange juice, fresh ginger and mix to combine.
- Add half of the dry ingredients and mix on low until just combined.
- Add the milk, and (guess what?) mix to combine.
- Take the bowl out of the stand mixer and fold in the rest of the flour mixture with a spatula or metal spoon.
- Pour the cake mix into the prepared loaf tin, making sure to scrape all the cake batter out of the bowl (a spatula is very useful for this!). Bake on the middle shelf of the preheated oven for 45-50 minutes until the top of the cake is a nice golden-brown colour. To check the cake is cooked through, poke a skewer through the middle. If it comes out clean, the cake is cooked. if not, place it back in the oven for another 5 minutes.
- When you take your cake out of the oven, leave it in the tin and place on a cooling rack for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, mix up the freshly squeezed orange juice and granulated sugar for the drizzle.
- Once the cake has been left to cool for around 5 minutes, poke holes all over the top of the cake (this is to allow the drizzle to saturate the whole sponge). Pour the fresh orange mixture all over the cake and let it soak in (this will only take 1-2 minutes).
- Turn the cake out of the tin - place the right way up - and leave on a cooling rack for another 10 minutes. Whilst the cake is cooling, prepare the glaze icing. The measurements for this are personal preference, check out my tip above for some alternative measurements! Weigh out the icing sugar into a bowl, and add the orange juice bit by bit. Mix well until the icing sugar is completely dissolved and you have your desired consistency.
- If you have made a thin glaze, pour all over the cake. If you have made a thicker icing, use a pallet knife to spread across the top of the cake. Leave to set for 20 minutes, and then, ENJOY!
The cake should keep for 3-4 days in an airtight container at room temperature, but, like most things, it tastes best fresh out of the oven!
If anyone is struggling with measurements, check out my conversion charts - these are really handy for any recipe, so save or print them so you have them to hand for any tasty treat you bake.
Thank you so much for reading my first blog post, and I hope some of you try out this recipe for yourself. If you do, please send over a picture of the finished product and let me know how it tastes! If you love this recipe, be sure to share it with your family and friends so they can try it out too!
Please leave a rating below and feel free to leave any questions and i'll get back to you. Suggestions are also welcome! Let me know if this recipe was easy to follow, and anything else you might like a recipe for.
Until next time,
Abby x
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Comments
Abs this looks fab! Definitely making this next week. I will let you know how it get on! xx
I can't wait to see! x
Loooove this<3
Looks fab Abby! Best of luck with it, I love baking too! Try out some recipes from @sweetestmenu on instagram - their white choc and raspberry blondies are to die for x
Brilliant, Abby. So proud of you 💖
Love that abs can’t imagine mine will turn out as good as that though😯
Well done Abbs,we have tasted your baking on many occasions,always FAB. Keep this good work going,and you know you will always have our support. G &. G XX