Parkin

I had been given Delia Smith's recipe, but, as usual with something I've not made before, looked at several others before starting.  Mine finished up as mostly Mary Berry's, but using Ed Kimber's idea of draught Guiness instead of milk.  MB uses a 7" square tin - mine is 9" so I upped the quantities.  It looks a bit thicker than I expected.

10oz  Black Treacle (or 2/3 treacle and 1/3 Golden Syrup)
8oz    Unsalted butter
6 1/2 oz dark muscovado sugar
10oz   Plain Flour (I used self-raising)
3 good teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 level teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
16oz  Medium oatmeal
2 medium eggs
8fl oz Guiness - I used a tin of draught - creamier and not as sour as bottled Guiness
1 teaspoon Bicarbonate of Soda

Set a deep roasting tin on a medium heat.  When hot but not simmering, sit the treacle tin in it for 5 minutes - this makes it much easier to handle.  Put the oven on to 160C Fan and grease and line the cake tin.
Put a medium saucepan on your scales and set to 0.  Pour in the treacle.  Add the butter and sugar and set onto a low heat until the sugar has dissolved.  Beat the eggs.  Sieve the flour into a large bowl with the bicarbonate and mix the oatmeal with it.  Pour in the treacle/butter/sugar mixture, the eggs and the Guiness.  The mixture should be just about pourable - pour it into the tin and bake.  I was a little surprised that it was done in 45 minutes, most recipes suggest much longer.  Cool in the tin and turn out.  Wrap in greaseproof paper and store for at least 3 days before eating.   In between the turning out and the wrapping, i wentinto the cellar for another bottle of cooks refreshment, and found a bottle of Black Seal rum with a couple of inches left.  It seemed like a good idea to pour this all over the Parkin before the wrapping.  We shall see!

A traditional pudding is apparently Parkin served smothered with stewed apples, so I wonder whether it would be good (and a bit lighter) with cubes of peeled, cored apple folded int the mixture.  It would make the cut slices look better too, I expect.

This was rather dry and crumbly.  I'd love to hear of improvement ideas!