I’m not sure if Cheshire Parkin is any different from any other sort of parkin, but that’s what this recipe is called. Parkin is a traditional ginger cake from the north of England.

225 g/ 8oz/ 2.5 cups of course oatmeal
75g/ 3oz/ three quarters of a cup of self-raising flour
50g/ 2 oz/ half a cup of demerara (brown) sugar
1 teaspoon of ground ginger
half a teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda
a pinch of salt
225g/ 8oz golden syrup or black treacle or mixture of both
125g/4oz/ 1 stick of margarine
70 ml/ 2.5 fluid oz of milk

1. Mix all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
2. Melt the syrup and margarine in a bowl and add to the dry ingredients.
3. Stir in the milk to make a soft consistency.
4. Grease a 20cm/8 inch round sandwich tin or a seven inch square tin and line it with greaseproof paper. Put the mixture into the tin and level it.
5. Bake in the middle of a moderate oven, Gas 4, 350 F or 180 C for around 1 hour, when it should be firm to the touch. Cut into squares.
6. Leave in tin to cool.

The recipe says that this is best left for a couple of days before eating but I have never been able to wait that long, in fact we had eaten some before I got around to taking a photo, which is why it looks rectangular, not square. Judge the syrup by how much is in the tin or bottle if you don’t have scales. I think it amounted to around 6 big rounded spoonfuls.

I left my parkin in too long, an hour in my new oven is too much, all ovens are different of course so you’re best to keep checking it. For me it was too hard but giving it a whizz in the microwave on medium softened it to the perfect consistency and it tastes really nice when it’s warm. Otherwise we ate it with custard!