Gingerbread cake with frosting

MAKES an 18cm round cake

FOR THE CAKE

100g butter, plus extra

for greasing

90g brown sugar

90g caramel syrup

125ml milk

1 egg, lightly beaten

300g flour

1½tbsp cocoa powder 1 pinch salt

1 level tsp baking powder 1 level tsp ground ginger FOR THE ICING

400g cream cheese 1-2tsp vanilla sugar

150g icing sugar TO DECORATE Cranberries, optional

1 Melt the butter, sugar and caramel syrup together in a small saucepan over a low heat, stirring constantly. Transfer to a bowl and leave to cool slightly.

2 Preheat the oven to 150°C/130°C fan/gas 2, then grease the sides of an 18cm springform tin and line the bottom with baking paper.

3 Whisk the milk and egg into the butter mixture. Combine the flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking powder and ginger in another bowl, then add the butter mixture and stir well to make a smooth batter.

4 Transfer to the prepared tin and bake in the preheated oven for 50-55min. Insert a skewer to check the cake is cooked – it should come out clean. Remove from the oven. Leave the cake to cool for 10min, then remove from the tin and slice in half horizontally. Leave to cool fully.

5 For the icing, use a handheld electric whisk at low speed to beat the cream cheese and vanilla sugar together until creamy. Gradually add the icing sugar until it has the desired consistency.

6 Cover the bottom section of the cake with half of the icing, then top with the other half of the cake. Spread the remaining icing across the top. Transfer to a plate and decorate with sugardusted cranberries, if you like.