Ginger loaf

It's been a while since i posted any new recipes, due to the volume of birthday cakes ive been making ive been concentrating a lot on decoration and oh what fun we've had with all that fondant. Most of these cakes have been a basic vanilla sponge which you can find the recipe for in Spotty Sponge
How ever i finally invited my mum over for dinner in my new house this weekend and with the evenings getting darker and colder, i think it's quite nice to find those cakes that have a little extra flavour and go well with custard.
Enjoy Ginger Loaf hot or cold, with or with out custard, on your own or with friends and family.

Ginger Loaf 


100 g Caster sugar 
125 g unsalted butter
1 large egg
225 ml Treacle (this is about half a tin, sticking with my table spoon measurement here i went for 5 spoons but if you want a bit more of a kick feel free to put in a little more)
300 g plain flour
1 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cloves ( as with the treacle this is a rough measurement guide and you can alter cinnamon ginger and clovers to taste) 
1/2 tsp table salt
250 ml hot water  


Cream butter and sugar together, stir in egg, stir in treacle.
In a separate bowl measure out flour, add bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and salt  Slowly in small amount sift the flour mixture in to the wet mix. (we do this slowly so the mixture can absorb the flour evenly, unless you have a high quality electric mixer it which case you can pretty much just wack it all straight in.)

Only the water to add, again we do this slowly to ensure even mixture, do not worry if the mix seems much to wet, the cake we are making is quite moist and sticky. You are now ready to transfer the mix to a loaf tin, in a standard size loaf tin the mix will come nearly to the rim. bake for an hour at 180 deg C / gas mark 4