Chocolate Gingerbread

(taken from Nigella Lawson’s Feast)

"Makes about 12 slabs. I'd never come across a chocolate gingerbread, and after making this one for the first time, I wondered why not. There's something about the glottally thickening wodge of chocolate chip and cocoa that just intensifies the rich spices of gingerbread. The chocolate chips add texture and nubbly treat within. This is very rich, very strong: not for children, but perfect for the rest of us.


INGREDIENTS:

For the Cake
175 g Unsalted butter
125 g dark muscovado sugar
2 Tbsps caster sugar
200 g golden syrup
200 g black treacle or molasses
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 1/4 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda
2 Tbsps warm water
2 x eggs
250 ml milk
275 g plain flour
40 g cocoa
175 g chocolate chips

For the Icing
250 g icing sugar
30 g unsalted butter
1 tbsp cocoa
60 ml ginger ale


DIRECTIONS:

For the Cake
Preheat the oven to gas mark 3/170° C and tear off a big piece of baking parchment to line the bottom and sides of a roasting tin of approximately 30 x 20 x 5cm deep. In a decent-sized saucepan, melt the butter along with the sugars, golden syrup, treacle or molasses, cloves, cinnamon and ground ginger.





In a cup dissolve the bicarbonate of soda in the water. Take the saucepan off the heat and beat in the eggs, milk and bicarb in its water. Stir in the flour and cocoa and beat with a wooden spoon to mix.



Fold in the chocolate chips, pour into the lined tin and bake for about 45 minutes until risen and firm. It will be slightly damp underneath the set top and that's the way you want it. Remove to a wire rack and let cool in the tin. Once cool, get on with the icing.



For the Icing
Sieve the icing sugar. In a heavy-based saucepan heat the butter, cocoa and ginger ale. Once the butter's melted, whisk in the icing sugar. Lift the chocolate gingerbread out of the tin and unwrap the paper. Pour over the icing just to cover the top and cut into fat slabs when set."

//My notes: I halved the slab, made the amount of icing and only coated one half of the gingerbread. I found the icing way too sweet, but - based on the reaction of my workmates - the icing was a very popular touch. I cut the slab into small squares like with brownies, which is what this gingerbread really is. This is a winner - I recommend!