A traybake can be made in any square or rectangular tin and you can increase or decrease the quantities to your hearts content. I love a traybake because of its versatility. A traybake doesn’t have to be a cake, it can be a pudding too, cut into squares and open freeze for a rainy day. It was Mary Berry who back in the day first introduced me to the wonders of a traybake bake, and true to say it lost favour for many, many years.
The following recipe is taken from Mary Berry’s Ultimate Cake Book – I always halve this quantity and use a 18 x 28cm tin. Freeze un-iced.
Slightly adapted recipe. For this quantity of mixture you will need a 30 x 23cm tin lined with parchment paper.
275g golden syrup
275g black treacle
225g dark molasses sugar
225g unsalted butter
450g self-raising flour
2 teaspoons mixed spice
2 rounded teaspoons ground ginger
4 eggs, beaten
4 tablespoons milk
For the icing:
225g icing sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
50g crystallised ginger finely chopped.
- Preheat the oven to 160oC/325oF/Gas 3.
- Measure the syrup, treacle, sugar and butter into a large pan. Heat very gently until the butter has melted. Remove from the heat and stir in the flour and spices. Add the beaten eggs and milk, beat until smooth.
- Pour into the lined tin.
- Bake for 45-50 minutes until beginning to shrink away from the sides of the tin.
- Cool in the tin.
- When cold lift out of the tin and remove the lining paper.
- Sift the icing sugar into a bowl, add the lemon juice, drop by drop and mix until smooth.
- Decorate with the chopped ginger and leave the icing to set.
- Cut into squares.
