Zesty carrot & ginger loaf

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Cuts into 8 slices

Source

Ingredients

100g unsalted butter , plus extra for the tin

100g dark muscovado sugar

50g black treacle

50g golden syrup (or use more black treacle if you like your ginger cake really dark)

zest 1 orange

zest and juice 1 lemon

1 large carrot , grated (you will need 140g/5oz flesh)

5 balls stem ginger from a jar, finely chopped

175g self-raising flour

¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda

2 tsp ground ginger

¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper

2 eggs

140g icing sugar

Method

Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Butter then line a 900g loaf tin with a strip of baking parchment. Put the butter, sugar, treacle, syrup and half the zests into a large saucepan. Heat gently until everything has melted together.

Add the carrot, ¾ of the chopped ginger, all the flour, bicarb, ¼ tsp salt, the ground ginger, pepper and eggs to the pan and stir well until you have a smooth batter. Pour into the tin and bake for 45 mins, or until dark brown and risen and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Cool for 20 mins in the tin, then turn out onto a wire rack.

Sift the icing sugar into a bowl, add the remaining zests, then stir in enough lemon juice (about 4 tsp should do it) to make a smooth, thick icing. Cover the surface of the icing with cling film until ready to decorate the cake.

When the cake is completely cool, spread the icing over the top and let it dribble down the sides. Scatter with the reserved chopped ginger. Allow to set, then cut into slices and serve.