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Ingredients

For the ginger cake:

100g butter, plus extra for greasing

125g dark muscovado sugar

50g treacle

50g golden syrup

1 ball stem ginger, from a jar in syrup

100ml whole milk

1 egg

125g plain flour

½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

½ tsp ground ginger

½ tsp ground cinnamon

For the filling:

100g full-fat cream cheese 150ml double cream

4 tbsp ginger syrup, from the stem ginger jar

2 tbsp icing sugar

8 tbsp lemon curd

For the candied peel:

1 unwaxed lemon

75g caster sugar

50g granulated sugar

You will need

2 x 18cm round tins

Recipe serves 10 people

Preparation method

Preheat the oven to 160°C/140°C fan/gas 3 then grease two 18cm tins and line with baking parchment.

Make two batches of the ginger cake recipe

Heat the butter, sugar, treacle and syrup together in a large saucepan, stirring until the butter is melted and the sugar has dissolved.

Melting the fat and sugar together gives ginger cake its characteristic stickiness, so make sure the mixture is smooth and there are no grains of sugar visible.

Finely chop the stem ginger.

Add the milk to the saucepan and whisk until combined. This will cool the mixture down before you add the egg, stopping it from scrambling.

Beat in the egg then stir in the chopped stem ginger.

Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda and spices together in a large bowl.

Pour the wet mixture over the top and beat together until smooth.

Pour into the tin then bake in the middle of the preheated oven for 40–50 minutes, or until firm and a skewer inserted comes out clean. Leave to cool completely in the tin before removing and adding the filling and topping.

To make the filling, whip the cream cheese, double cream, syrup and icing sugar together until thick enough to hold its shape.

For the candied peel, remove the lemon zest with a vegetable peeler. (Try to get as little of the white pith as possible, because it is bitter and unpleasant).

Finely slice the zest into long strands, then put in a saucepan with the caster sugar and 50ml of water.

Boil for ten minutes or until translucent, then drain, toss in granulated sugar and leave to dry out on a baking tray covered in baking parchment.

To assemble, put one of the cakes onto a plate or cake stand. Spread three-quarters of the cream cheese icing over the bottom layer, and top with the lemon curd.

Sandwich the second layer on top, and decorate with the remaining icing and the candied peel.

This cake will keep in the fridge for up to a week, and the sponge improves with age so it could be made 3–4 days in advance.