Chocolate glazed ginger cake

This ginger cake boasts a stunning marble chocolate glaze, which is much easier to do than it might seem.

Credit: The Chocolate Queen

• serves

  10

• prep

  1:40 hour

• cook

  50 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

Ginger and syrup (optional, see Note)

• 225 g fresh ginger
• 700 ml water
• 300 g caster sugar

Cake

• 15 g unsalted butter (A)
• 2 tsp plain flour
• 220 g unsalted butter, softened (B)
• 200 g muscovado sugar
• 50 g black treacle
• 150 g golden syrup
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 300 ml full cream milk
• ginger slices as prepared in recipe (or 220 g store bought stem ginger, slices only)
• 50 ml ginger syrup as prepared (or 50 ml syrup from store bought stem ginger)
• 365 g self-raising flour
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 3 tsp ground ginger
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

Chocolate glaze

• 800 g good quality white chocolate 28%
• 300 g  good quality dark couverture chocolate 54%
• 80 ml grapeseed oil (A)
• 40 ml grapeseed oil (B)

If making the ginger slices and syrup, allow an extra 2½ hours of cooking time. 

Cake cooling time: at least 3 hours. Chilling time after glazing: 2 hours.

Instructions

1. For the ginger and syrup, peel the ginger before thinly slicing to approximately 3mm in thickness.
2. Place the water and ginger into a medium saucepan and simmer with the lid on for approximately 2½ hours, until the ginger is tender.
3. Strain the ginger over a bowl and reserve the liquid.
4. In a saucepan, add 300 ml of the ginger infused water. If too much of the liquid evaporated during the simmering process, make up the difference by adding more water. Add the sugar to the saucepan and bring to the boil, until the sugar has completely dissolved.
5. Add in the ginger and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool at room temperature. Once cool, place the ginger and syrup in a sealed container and store in the refrigerator until required.
6. For the ginger cake, heat the oven to 180˚C (160˚C fan forced).
7. Melt the butter (A) in a small saucepan. Brush the melted butter over the inside surfaces of a bundt tin, 220mm in diameter and 100mm in depth. Add the plain flour and rotate the tin until the inside surfaces are coated with flour. Tap out any excess flour and set aside until required.
8. In a clean saucepan over medium heat, place the butter (B), sugar, treacle and golden syrup. Stir until the ingredients have melted and combined. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and allow to cool slightly at room temperature.
9. Add in the beaten eggs and milk, whisk to combine.
10. Gently fold through the ginger slices, ginger syrup, self-raising flour, salt, ground ginger, ground cinnamon and bicarbonate of soda.
11. Pour the cake batter into the prepared bundt tin and bake in the pre-heated oven for 40-45 minutes. The cake will be ready when a skewer is inserted and comes out clean.
12. Allow to sit at room temperature for 10 minutes before removing from the tin. Place the cake on a cooling rack and allow to cool completely.
13. Once cool, wrap the cake with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for 3 hours, or overnight.
14. For the glaze, place the white and dark chocolate into separate saucepans. Place the saucepans onto an induction cooktop on setting 4. Stir continuously until you have 50% solids and 50% liquid. Transfer the chocolate into 2 separate heat-proof plastic bowls and stir vigorously until the solids have completely melted. (Alternatively, follow the microwave instructions for tempering chocolate in this recipe).
15. Add the grapeseed oil (A) to the white chocolate and grapeseed oil (B) to the dark chocolate, mix to combine.
16. Transfer the chocolate mixtures into a jug, alternating the white and dark to create layers.
17. Place the chilled cake onto a cooling rack over a tray with sides and pour the glaze over the cake.
18. Using a sharp knife, trim around the base of the cake before the chocolate becomes too firm.
19. Transfer the cake to a serving plate and place in the refrigerator for 2 hours before serving.

Note

• If you do not wish to prepare the ginger for the cake, simply use store bought stem ginger in syrup.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.