Makes 16 squares

Parkin is a must for Bonfire Night. It seems that every family has a version of this crumbly treat, and this is mine
– made a little more moist with the addition of ginger beer.

250g medium oatmeal
125g wholemeal flour
1 tsp ground ginger
1ž2 tsp baking powder
125g unsalted butter
125g soft dark brown sugar
125g black treacle
2 tbsp golden syrup
300ml ginger beer

1 Heat the oven to 160C/Gas 3. Line and grease a 25cm square cake tin. Mix the oatmeal, wholemeal flour, ground ginger and baking powder in a large bowl.

2 Gently heat the butter, sugar, treacle and golden syrup in a saucepan until the butter has melted, then immediately pour over the dry mixture and mix well. Pour in the ginger beer and stir through.

3 Pour the batter into the tin and bake for about 1-11ž4 hours until golden brown and a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the middle of the cake.

4 Let the parkin cool in the tin for 15 minutes, then invert the tin on to a cooling rack. Keep it in an airtight container for a few days and it will not only become more moist but also improve in flavour.

Times Recommends

• Top Ten most searched for recipes
• Chalet Chef 2010: the winning menus
• Gin and pomegranate jellies