Recipe 201 – Traditional Parkin

I’ve definitely got my baking bug back…

Traditional Parkin is the next recipe  I’ve chosen to bake.  Having remembered to buy another tin of black treacle the other day, I had no excuse not to bake this.  Mary says the Parkin definitely improves with keeping, so you’ll have to come back in a week’s time to see how it tasted, as it’s been wrapped up and put away, hidden from the family!

The oven was set to Fan 160°C and a 18cm (7″) deep square cake tin greased and the base lined with parchment.

The first step was to measure out some ingredients into a pan as they had to be heated on the hob – 175g black treacle, 150g butter and 100g dark muscovado sugar were gently heated together until the butter had melted and the sugar dissolved.  This was then put to one side to allow it to cool slightly.

175g plain flour, 1 level tsp ground cinnamon, 2 level tsps ground ginger and 1 level tsp freshly grated nutmeg were sifted into a large bowl.  To this 275g porridge oats were added and mixed through.  In a separate bowl I cracked 1 large egg and added 150ml milk.  These were mixed together and then 1 level tsp bicarbonate of soda was mixed in too.  The milk mixture was added to the dry ingredients along with the treacle mixture and stirred in well.  This is one of those recipes where you think you’ve stirred all the flour in, but every so often you come across another ‘bubble’ of flour that hasn’t been mixed in properly.  Once I was happy that all the ingredients had been combined together, the batter was poured into the prepared tin and popped into the oven.

After an hour the top was beginning to crack and it was firm to the touch so I removed it from the oven and left it in the tin for around 10 minutes to cool slightly.  It was then turned out, the parchment peeled off the bottom and left to cool completely on a wire rack.  Once cooked it was wrapped up in greaseproof paper and put into a cake tin and hidden from the family.  They had all obviously noticed the cake as it was only the next day that they asked me what I had done with the cake I’d made yesterday!  They didn’t seem impressed when I told them they’d have to wait a week until they had a slice!

Watch this space and once a week’s up, I’ll fill you in on how it tasted!

Update – tonight was time to taste the Parkin, it’s been wrapped up for a week and I must admit I was disappointed. To me it seemed a bit dry and there was the over-bearing taste of black treacle which by now you all know I dislike! Husband said it wasn’t too bad, but would have preferred it with custard!