Make Ahead

"Potted Parkin" (Gingerbread with Crème Fraîche Frosting)

by:
December 13, 2012
4.7
3 Ratings
"Potted Parkin" (Gingerbread with Crème Fraîche Frosting)
Photo by creamtea
  • Prep time 15 minutes
  • Cook time 30 minutes
  • Makes one 9-inch cake
Author Notes

In this cake, the bits of crystallized ginger, along with the rich and tangy crème fraîche topping, are irresistible and addictive.

When my kids were small, I made gingerbread nearly every week in winter. Although I'd never had gingerbread as a child, I had grown up with my mother's honey cake, with its mellow hints of orange and spice. Both treats are part of the family of spiced and honeyed baked goods popular from Britain to Scandinavia to Germany.

This cake is partly based on Colwin's gingerbread, partly on my mother's orange-scented honey cake. The cake improves in flavor after a day, at which point it wants a rich and creamy finish. I recommend this tangy blend of cream cheese and crème fraîche. It's soft and flowy, and contrasts beautifully with the dark cake. Spread it on the entire cake or on individual portions, letting it billow gently over the edges.


—creamtea

Test Kitchen Notes

Creamtea does a good job in preparing you that this is not a typical Parkin, nor is it a typical gingerbread. Her hybrid version yields a dense cake but not heavy cake. The substitution of Golden Syrup in place of black treacle or dark molasses produces a much lighter cake, both in color and in texture than that of the typical versions. She has just the right amount of spices (even the black pepper) without being overbearing. —Chef Lisa

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • For the Cake
  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 2 teaspoons ground ginger
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground mace
  • 6 to 12 half-grinds black pepper -- just a pinch
  • 1 pinch fine sea salt
  • 1/2 cup (1 cube) butter
  • 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
  • 2 large eggs plus one yolk
  • 1/2 cup Lyle's Golden Syrup
  • 1/2 cup stout -- Oatmeal Stout by Samuel Smith works particularly well and gives you your daily intake of complex carbohydrates. Kidding.
  • Grated zest of one large orange (about 1 tablespoon)
  • 3 tablespoons crystallized ginger, the non-uniform type coated in granulated sugar, cut into small dice and tossed with a little flour to prevent sinking
  • For the frosting
  • 1 8-ounce block of Neufchâtel cheese or cream cheese, softened
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
  • 3 heaping tablespoons crème frâiche
  • 1 pinch salt
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 2 tablespoons Lyle's Golden Syrup
  • 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar (more or less to suit taste), measured and then sifted
Directions
  1. For the Cake
  2. Preheat oven to 350º F and butter and flour a 9-inch round cake pan. Line the pan with baking parchment -- else the crystallized ginger will bond with the pan like crazy glue. Butter and flour the parchment for good measure.
  3. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, spices, and salt. Whisk together and set aside.
  4. In a large bowl with an electric mixer, cream the butter with the sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the golden syrup. Stir in the orange zest.
  5. Add the dry ingredients and the stout alternately in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour mixture, beating after each until just combined; do not over-beat or cake will be tough. Stir in diced ginger. Batter will be fairly liquid.
  6. Scrape batter into prepared pan, smooth with a rubber scraper, and rotate back and forth briskly a few times to settle the batter in the pan. Place on rack in center of oven. Bake 20 to 35 minutes or just until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
  7. Cool cake on a rack 10 minutes, run a sharp knife around edge, and invert onto an oiled cake rack to cool completely. Remove parchment. Best made a day ahead.
  8. Serve with a dollop of the following:
  1. For the frosting
  2. Combine the cream cheese, butter, and crème frâiche in a medium bowl and beat with electric mixer until combined. Beat in Golden Syrup, then confectioners' sugar by the tablespoon, tasting as you go. When it tastes right, it's done. You may need to chill the frosting in the fridge for an hour or so to firm it up; it will be pretty soft.
  3. Frost the top of the cake generously. There will likely be enough left over for you to store in a monkey dish in the fridge and spoon out when no one is looking.
  4. Put the kettle on, make a cup of coffee or two, and cut a couple of fat slices of cake, one for you, one for a friend.
Tags:
Contest Entries

See what other Food52ers are saying.

  • sara diamond
    sara diamond
  • ChefJune
    ChefJune
  • KakiSue
    KakiSue
  • aargersi
    aargersi
  • creamtea
    creamtea

Popular on Food52

8 Reviews

sara D.
sara D. December 11, 2017
Delicious! Easy! I made one small change- I used date molasses instead of Lyle’s syrup, because it’s what I had on hand. Oh and I added a 1/4t of ground cardamom. It should bake for 30 min. Great without icing.
 
creamtea
creamtea December 11, 2017
What a great idea to use date molasses! Thanks for trying!
 
ChefJune
ChefJune September 13, 2016
Mmmmmm I put orange zest in my honey cake, too. I might make this for Rosh Hashanah instead -- except with buttermilk rather than anything beerish, to which I am terribly allergic. And this frosting I am simple going to steal, creamtea!!!!
 
creamtea
creamtea September 13, 2016
Thanks June, I hope you try the cake--and the frosting!
 
KakiSue
KakiSue December 6, 2014
thanks for submitting this - I def did not see it before. You had me at the Lyle's! We love gingerbread and honey cake, so this is a natural. I am planning out all the baked treats for when my girls come home for Christmas - it's a rainy day here in the Northeast, so I'll do a test run today. Thanks, creamtea - I love your recipes.
 
creamtea
creamtea December 6, 2014
Thanks KakiSue! Let me know how you like it (hope you try the frosting too).
 
aargersi
aargersi December 13, 2012
This sounds wonderful - I don't know what Lyle's Golden Syrup is though? Also I am going to need your honey cake recipe so cough it up :-)
 
creamtea
creamtea December 13, 2012
hahaha. Whole Foods have Lyle's, at least the one here. It is labelled "Proudly British. Partially Inverted Refiner's Syrup." I don't know what inverted means, and I don't think I want to. I do get the "proudly British" part, and I've forgiven them for the whole stamp tax thing, George III and all that.
This syrup is good for the soul. It is a medium tan clear syrup with caramelly flavors, not dark like molasses. It's yummy. The back of the label, under nutrition says "the key to a healthy lifestyle is to enjoy a variety of foods in moderation..." That's as far as I'm reading. I will put my mother's honey cake recipe up soon!