Spiced ginger loaf cake with maple glaze

You will need:

For the loaf

Loaf tin (and liner) 

150g soft brown sugar

150g butter (or good margarine) 

3 large free range eggs 

1 teaspoon vanilla paste or extract

150g self-raising flour 

4 teaspoons ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 

Half a  teaspoon ground allspice

For the glaze

As much icing sugar as you dare

4 tablespoons maple syrup

Enough water to turn it into a runny mess

Method:

Preheat oven to gas mark 4 (180 degrees)

Cream the butter and sugar

Beat in the eggs and vanilla

Sift in the flour and spices, and mix well

Spoon into tin (greased and lined with baking parchment, if not using a liner)

Bake for 40-45 minutes - it's ready when a skewer inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean

Leave in the tin, on a cooling rack

While still warm, poke a skewer a good few times all over the cake

Make up the glaze by mixing everything together

Spoon over the cooling cake and leave to set

Try to leave until it is cool, then demolish!

Ice cream loaf

I saw this online and had to try it. It's really easy, all you need is:

1 pint of ice cream (that's been left out of the freezer to melt)
210g of self raising flour

That's it! Mix them together and pour into a lined loaf tin, and bake at gas mark 4 / 180 degrees for about 45 minutes.

It's not bad, maybe a bit expensive - but definitely give it a go! :) I used Ben & Jerry's Phish Food, and I also threw in some chocolate chips.

Cinnamon drizzle cake

You will need: 

For the loaf
Loaf tin (and liner) 
150g caster sugar 
150g butter (or good margarine) 
3 large free range eggs 
2 vanilla pods, seeds scraped out (or table spoon of vanilla paste) 
150g self raising flour 
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 
1 teaspoon ground ginger 

For the icing
30g icing sugar
good shake of cinnamon (about 1 level teaspoon)
table spoon or two of water (or lemon or orange juice)

Method:
Preheat oven to gas mark 4 (180 degrees)
Cream the sugar and butter
Beat in the eggs and vanilla
Sift in the flour, cinnamon and ginger, and fold gently in
Spoon into tin (greased and lined with baking parchment, if not using a liner)
Bake for 45-55 minutes - it's ready when a skewer inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean
Leave in the tin, on a cooling rack to cool

While still warm, poke a skewer a good few times all over the cake
Make up the icing by sifting the icing sugar and mixing everything together
Spoon over the cooling cake and leave to set

Andy’s white chocolate and raspberry loaf

Ingredients:

250g plain flour + extra for dusting
3tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
175g raspberries
100g white chocolate roughly chopped
1 large egg, beaten
175ml milk
100g granulated sugar
60g butter melted + extra tbsp for greasing

Method:

1. Grease a loaf tin sparingly with melted butter and dust with flour, shaking off the excess.

2. Sift flour, baking powder and salt – and make a well in the middle.

3. Mix milk, egg, and sugar together, then pour into the well.

4. Add the chocolate and raspberries and mix together all the ingredients. DO NOT over mix. Just give it four or five good mixes with a spatula to form a wet batter. It adds to the texture if it isn’t mixed together properly.

5. Pour into the prepared loaf tin, and put into a pre-heated oven (gas 4/180 ◦C/350 ◦F) for about 45 minutes to an hour – or when a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Should be really golden and well-risen when ready.

6. Remove from oven but leave in tin to cool slightly (about 10-15 minutes), as the loaf will be delicate when hot. Turn out on to cooling rack and leave to cool. Really nice still warm with custard, or cold the next day with a cuppa.