Ginger cake

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease and line an 18cm round, 7cm deep cake tin with greaseproof or parchment paper.

Combine the flour, bicarbonate of soda and all the spices in a large mixing bowl. Add the butter and rub it into the flour with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.

Combine the sugar, treacle, syrup and milk in a medium saucepan and heat, gently stirring, until the sugar has dissolved. Turn up the heat and bring the mixture to just below boiling point.

Add the stem ginger to the flour mixture, and pour in the treacle mixture while stirring with a wooden spoon. Break in the egg and beat until the mixture is combined and it resembles a thick pancake batter. Pour this into the prepared tin and bake for 50 minutes – 1 hour, or until a skewer pushed into the centre of the cake comes out fairly clean. Leave to cool completely in the tin before turning the cake out.

For the icing, combine the butter, vanilla paste and icing sugar in the bowl of a mixer and beat until pale, gradually adding the milk.

Cut your cake into 2 or 3 equal layers, butter each layer and ice the entire cake. Decorate with the extra ginger.