Gingerbread pudding

This is a wonderful, warming recipe. It is really important to use good-quality stem ginger and the syrup from its jar (never be tempted to substitute the horrible stuff used to jazz up lattes and frothy coffees – it just won’t taste the same). SERVES 8 350ml (12fl oz) full-fat milk 150g (5oz) dark brown muscovado sugar 1½ tsp bicarbonate of soda 75ml (3fl oz) stem ginger syrup (see recipe intro) 150g (5oz) unsalted butter 75g (3oz) black treacle 150g (5oz) golden syrup 275g (10oz) self-raising flour 1½ tbsp ground ginger 1 tsp ground cinnamon 1 tsp mixed spice a pinch of sea salt 60g (2½ oz) stem ginger, finely chopped 3 egg yolks TO SERVE vanilla ice cream and butterscotch sauce to serve (for homemade, see my book)

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas 4. Warm the milk and sugar in a heavy-based saucepan, and whisk to combine. Bring to a simmer, then remove from the heat and stir in the bicarbonate of soda. Stir in the stem ginger syrup.

Melt the butter, treacle and golden syrup in another large saucepan.

Sift the flour, spices and salt into a bowl. Add the stem ginger to the dry ingredients, using your fingers to rub it in and distribute it evenly.

You are now ready to combine all of the ingredients. Firstly, add a little of the milk mixture to the butter and treacle mixture to loosen, and whisk until smooth. Slowly begin to whisk the dry ingredients into this mixture, adding extra milk mixture to loosen when necessary. When all the flour has been incorporated, whisk in the remaining milk mixture and the egg yolks. The batter will be quite wet.

Pour the batter into a 25cm x 5cm (10in x 2in) baking dish and bake for 40 minutes, or until the centre is springy to the touch. Serve with vanilla ice cream and warm butterscotch sauce.