Gingerbread is taken seriously here in Scotland with many varieties to choose from. This is Edinburgh gingerbread, a classic in its own right.
Aah gingerbread, Scotland is famed for her gingerbread and we have many types on offer.
This is not a recipe for the type of gingerbread one uses for gingerbread men and cookies, no this is good old fashioned cake type Edinburgh gingerbread.
Edinburgh was always the centre of high society in Scotland and led the field in fashion and innovation.
This was very evident in the famous tea rooms and drawing rooms of hostesses in the city who prided themselves on using the finest ingredients in their cakes and bakes.
This Edinburgh gingerbread is a traditional recipe and boasts cinnamon for added spice and the crunch of almonds as well as juicy sultanas in the mix.
This recipe if from my book Simply Scottish Cakes & Bakes and you really don’t want to know how many times I practiced all these recipes, my jeans gave up on me completely!
Ingredients for this gingerbread
It is a pretty easy recipe really, you just need plain flour, bicarbonate of soda, ground ginger and cinnamon, a pinch of salt, treacle, soft brown sugar, milk, eggs, sultanas and flaked almonds.
How to make Edinburgh gingerbread
- Preheat the oven to 160C/325F/Gas 3 and grease and line a 1 kilo/2lb loaf tin
- Sift together the flour, bicarbonate of soda and spices into a large bowl and add the nuts and sultanas.
- Melt the butter, treacle and sugar together over a low heat and let it cool a little before adding the eggs and milk and stirring well.
- Add a little of this at a time to the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly. Pour the mixture into the prepared loaf tin and bake for approximately 1 1/4 hours or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.
- Cool in tin for 10 minutes before tipping out on to a wire rack to cool completely.
How long will this keep
Your Edinburgh gingerbread will keep for up to 3 days in an airtight tin. You can freeze it for up to 3 months if you wrap well in clingfilm then pop into a freezer-proof box.
Serve your Edinburgh Gingerbread either as it is or slathered in butter or cream cheese.
Or serve with ice-cream or just on its own maybe with a wee dram on the side.
Looking for more easy Scottish baking ideas? Then check these out before you go;
Traditional Scottish treacle scones + video
Scottish Black Bun (New Year cake)
Scotch pancakes (aka drop scones) +video
Traditional Scottish honey buns
Aberdeen crulla and whisky dipping sauce
Finally, if you do try this recipe don’t forget to leave a comment/star rating below as I just love to hear from readers. Want more Larder Love? Then follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter and sign up for my newsletter too of course.
Traditional Edinburgh gingerbread
Ingredients
- 225 g plain flour
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 2 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 pinch salt
- 50 g sultanas
- 50 g flaked almonds
- 175 g unsalted butter
- 12 tbsp treacle
- 110 g soft brown sugar
- 6 tbsp milk
- 2 eggs
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 160C/325F/Gas 3 and grease and line a 1 kilo/2lb loaf tin
- Sift together the flour, bicarbonate of soda and spices into a large bowl and add the nuts and sultanas.
- Melt the butter, treacle and sugar together over a low heat and let it cool a little before adding the eggs and milk and stirring well.
- Add a little of this at a time to the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly.
- Pour the mixture into the prepared loaf tin and bake for approximately 1 1/4 hours or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.
- Cool in tin for 10 minutes before tipping out on to a wire rack to cool completely.
Perfect! Substituted flour with Pamalas GF baking flour. Big hit. this Christmas.
Hi Vanessa
Great to hear the gingerbread worked so well using GF flour.
K