Miles Collins

Baking an old English classic…

Parkin is one of my favourite ’sweet things’. We have featured it on our menus on and off for a few years now and it is always popular. Parkin is a cake which is made in accordance to the English county you were brought up in; Yorkshire, Lancashire and Derbyshire are the homes of the traditional parkin and it is from these counties that its original names ‘tharf’ and/or ‘thor’ cake come from.

I have been told that Parkin was traditionally served in and around Guy Fawke’s Night, a sweet treat whilst watching the flames of your local bonfire engulf the poor Guy Fawkes.

Parkin is traditionally served as a cake with afternoon tea but I like to serve it hot with custard and a generous spoon of golden syrup. A scoop of gingerbread ice cream (vanilla will do the trick) sends the whole thing off the taste sensation map-you have to try it.

So here’s a Yorkshire parkin recipe, served hot. If you live outside England nobody will have heard of it and you will become instantly popular-take all the credit.

Serves 6-8

Turn your oven on and heat to 140 degrees C/275 F/gas mark 1. Butter a 20cm/8″ cake tin or individual pudding molds. Now weigh out the following:

100g/3 & 3/4oz Self Raising Flour  10g/2tsp Ground Ginger  80g/2&3/4oz Oatflakes  2.5g/1/2 tsp of ground nutmeg and mixed spice  175g/61/4oz Golden Syrup  50g/13/4oz Black Treacle  100g/3 &3/4oz Unsalted Butter  100g/3 &3/4oz Soft Brown Sugar  10ml/2tsp Full fat milk  1 medium Egg beaten 

Sieve the flour with a pinch of salt, add the ginger and spices followed by the oatflakes. Take a small saucepan and gently melt together the treacle, syrup, sugar and butter, do not allow to boil.When all has melted pour it into the flour-spice mix.

Stir in the egg and milk, the mix should be quite runny. Pour into your chosen mold and bake for approximately one and a quater hours or until the mixture feels firm in the centre.

If you are going to serve it as a cake then pouring a spiced syrup over the lot at the end of baking wouldn’t go amiss…

Take a small pan and whisk together over a low heat the following; 200g/7oz golden syrup  10ml/2tsp dry cider   2 & 1/2g/1/2 tsp mixed ground spice. Heat gently but do not boil.  

If you serve this hot then be generous with the custard/syrup and ice cream, you won’t regret it. Trust me, I’m a chef