Parkin recipe Makes 16 pieces

Bake the parkin at least four days before you want to eat it, as the flavour improves with keeping. Some traditionalists wrap it in greaseproof paper, seal it in a tin and don’t even cut it for a week. Either way, it will keep well stored this way for about two weeks.

Method

Preheat the oven to 150˚C/130˚C Fan/ 300˚F/gas mark 2. Generously grease a 22cm (8½in) square cake tin with some butter and line with baking parchment. Put the flour, spices, bicarbonate of soda, salt and pepper into a bowl and whisk together until well combined. Add the oats and whisk again.

Gently warm the butter, Golden Syrup, sugar and treacle in a medium-sized pan, until the butter has melted, and stir to ensure everything is very well combined. Don’t let it boil; you only want it warm.

Make a well in the flour mixture, pour in the warmed butter, sugar and syrup. Stir until well combined, then add the egg and milk. Pour into the prepared tin and bake until springy to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean (about 70–80 minutes). Leave the parkin to cool in the tin for 20 minutes before turning it out onto a rack to cool completely, then cut into squares (or leave it to grow richer, as above).

Variation

Dice four or five balls of stem ginger and add it to the batter when you stir in the egg and brush the top of the parkin with some syrup from the jar as soon as it comes out of the oven. This variation makes a good winter pudding, served warm with custard or thick cream, perhaps with the addition of some roasted apples or pears.