Date Syrup Ginger Parkin- vegan, natural sugar

Parkin is a quintessentially British treat

Parkin is quintessentially British fare from the North of England, particularly the counties of Yorkshire and Lancashire. It is traditionally served at November 5th ("Bonfire Night") celebrations so I'm posting this in good time for your party planning. (Look here for another Bonfire Night snack and some reminiscences from the 70s.) The key ingredients  of parkin are oats, black treacle and ground ginger and there are a million versions of it on the web as everyone's Aunty or Grandma seems to have their own favourite recipe.... my twist is not only to omit the eggs, but to replace the treacle with natural date syrup. (Although as cane sugars go, treacle/ molasses/ gour would all be reasonably healthy options.) As ginger is my current Ingredient of the Month, I made sure I included plenty! Oh, and I suppose I should mention that parkin is supposed to be kept in an airtight container for a week before eating ;) 

This recipe makes about the same amount as my other cakes; roughly 12 portions
300g wholemeal flour
100g porridge oats/ medium oatmeal
4 heaped tsps ground ginger
5 tsps baking powder
400ml rice milk (or other plant-based "milk")
200ml date syrup, plus more for glazing
150ml peanut or ricebran oil

• If you are using porridge oats, blitz them in your food processor or blender for a few seconds to break them down somewhat.
• Mix the dry ingredients together.
• Measure out the wet ingredients (this includes the date syrup) in a separate container and whisk together (by hand is fine; it's just so the syrup doesn't get left behind in the bottom of the bowl).
• Beat the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients for a couple of minutes. If you are used to baking cakes from my blog you will notice that this batter is slightly wetter than usual: don't worry...
• ...Just pile it into a couple of prepared cake pans/ loaf tins/ silicone moulds. Note:  Make sure the batter is not to deep- ideally, just about 3cm or a bit less, to ensure your parkin cooks through properly. Use 2  shallow pans if you have to, rather than one deep one.
• Bake for about 20m mins or until it passes the skewer test. Before it's cooled, brush the top generously with some more date syrup to give it a little stickiness and do not attempt to cut until cool or it will crumble. 

PS: If you have tried and liked this, you might want to try my Sticky Prune Cake!