Years ago I found a recipe in Joy of Cooking for molasses bars. I gave them a go and it was a mess, but I worked with the idea and came up with this. A moist, chewy cake with a lot of flavour but not too sweet, an alternative to brownies or parkin. Keeps very well, nice on its own or with ice cream.
2 eggs
6 oz (170g) light muscovado sugar
3 oz (85g) molasses (¼ US cup, 2 fl oz)
4 oz (115g) rapeseed oil
4 oz (115g) wholemeal flour
4 oz (115g) porridge oats
4 oz (115g) raisins
½ tsp bicarb
¼ tsp salt *
3 tsp (heaped) ginger
1 tsp (heaped) mixed spice
Grease and flour a 7″ x 10″ x 2″ cake tin. Put eggs and sugar in a bowl, and beat until light and pale. Beat in the molasses, and then the oil. Measure out all the rest of the ingredients, add to the egg mixture, and beat until smooth.
* The salt compensates for using oil instead of salted butter. It makes a more crucial flavour difference than in most cake recipes, I’m not sure why.
Spread mixture evenly in the prepared tin, and place in a preheated oven (Mk 4/350°F/170°C) on the second shelf up from the bottom. Bake for about 30 min., or before it seems quite done. It should sink a little bit as it cools.
Leave to cool in tin, covered with a clean tea towel. When cool, spread with a thin glacé icing made with 2oz icing sugar and flavoured with ½ tsp or so of cinnamon, or cinnamon oil if possible. When the icing has set, cut cake into bars – makes 16 or 20.