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The Christmas Chronicles: Notes, stories and recipes for midwinter by Nigel Slater

Makes 12 little cakes

ground cinnamon -2 teaspoons
ground ginger -2 teaspoons
ground mace – ½ teaspoon
self-raising flour- 250g
dark chocolate- 100g
marzipan- 80g
dates, stoned - 200g
golden syrup- 200g
butter -125g
dark muscovado sugar -125g
crystallised ginger -3 balls
candied orange peel- 70g
large eggs -2
milk-240ml

To finish:
dark chocolate -150g
preserved ginger in syrup -3 lumps

You will also need a 24cm square baking tin.

Mix together the cinnamon, ground ginger and mace, stir into the flour and set aside. Roughly chop the chocolate. Cut the marzipan into small pieces. Roughly chop the dates. Set the oven at 180°C/Gas 4. Line the baking tin with a piece of baking parchment.

Put the golden syrup, butter and sugar into a small pan and place over a moderate heat to melt. Cut the ginger into small dice and add it, with the candied peel, to the melted butter and sugar. Let the mixture bubble for one minute, then remove from the heat.
Break the eggs into a bowl, beat light1Y with a fork, then mix in the milk.

Remove the butter and sugar mixture from the heat and pour into the flour, stirring smoothly and firmly with a large metal spoon. Mix in the milk and eggs, chopped chocolate, dates and marzipan. Then pour into the lined tin, scraping the bowl clean with a rubber spatula. The mixture should be runny, not cake-like.

Bake for forty minutes, or until a metal skewer comes out without any raw mixture attached. Take out of the oven and leave to settle and cool before removing from its tin and on to a cooling rack.

Melt the chocolate in a bowl over simmering water. Cut the cake into twelve equal squares, pull them slightly away from each other, then spoon the melted chocolate over the individual cakes, letting it trickle down the sides. Cut the ginger into small dice and place some on top of each of the twelve little cakes. Let the chocolate set crisp before eating. They will keep in an airtight tin or plastic container for several days.