Parkin cake

Ingredients

• 440 g (1¼ cups) golden syrup
• 240 g treacle
• 2 tbsp milk
• 100 g unsalted butter
• 100 g lard
• 450 g fine oatmeal (use quick cooking oats at a pinch)
• 200 g plain flour
• 2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 2 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp mixed spice
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 130°C. Grease and line base and sides of a 5 cm x 21 cm x 31 cm slice pan.

2. Place golden syrup, treacle, milk, butter and lard in a saucepan over medium heat and cook for 8 minutes or until melted; don’t let mixture boil.

3. Combine oatmeal, flour, bicarb soda, ginger, mixed spice and a pinch of salt in a large bowl. Pour in the warm syrup mixture and stir to combine, then add the eggs and stir to combine. Pour mixture into prepared pan.

4. Bake for 1½ hours or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean and the batter has set into a nice, sticky slice.

5. Cut the parkin into 3 cm squares and, ideally, leave for a few days before eating. It will keep in an airtight container for up to 10 days.

As seen in Feast magazine, Issue 11, pg38