Ingredients

• 225g/8oz margarine
• softened
• 175g/6oz light muscovado sugar
• 200g/7oz black treacle
• 300g/10oz self-raising flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp ground mixed spice
• 1 tsp ground allspice
• 4 free-range eggs
• 4 tbsp milk
• 3 pieces stem ginger from a jar
• finely chopped
• 75g/2½oz icing sugar
• sieved
• 3 tbsp stem ginger syrup from the jar
• 3 pieces stem ginger from a jar
• chopped coarsely

Directions

• Cut a rectangle of non stick baking parchment to fit the base and sides of a 30x23x4cm/12x9x1½in traybake tin or roasting tin. Grease the tin and then line with the paper
• pushing it neatly into the corners of the tin.
• Preheat the oven to 160C/325F/Gas 3.
• Measure all the ingredients for the traybake into a large bowl and beat well for about two minutes until well blended. A hand-held electric mixer is best for this but of course you can also mix it by hand with a wooden spoon. (Treacle can be difficult to weigh accurately as it tends to stick to the scale pan. Weighing the treacle on top of the sugar overcomes this problem.)
• Turn the mixture into the prepared tin
• scraping the sides of the bowl with a plastic spatula to remove all the mixture. Level the top gently with the back of the spatula.
• Bake in the preheated oven for about 35-40 minutes
• or until the traybake springs back when pressed lightly with a finger in the centre and is beginning to shrink away from the sides of the tin. Allow the traybake to cool a little
• then remove the cake from the tin by easing the paper away from the sides of the tin. Turn onto a cooling rack
• remove the lining paper and leave to cool completely.
• To make the icing
• mix the icing sugar and syrup together in a small bowl until smooth and a spreading consistency. Pour the icing over the cake
• spread gently to the edges with a small palette knife and sprinkle with the chopped stem ginger to decorate.
• Allow the icing to set before slicing the traybake to serve.