Success! I haz Parkin.
I have suggested modifications to make this recipe gluten free. To make it dairy free, simply replace the milk and butter with water and dairy free spread or oil.
Parkin
Taken from Home Baking Made Easy, Marshall Cavendish Limited, 1979.
The north of England is famous for this special type of gingerbread called parkin. It is very similar to gingerbread except that oatmeal is used in place of a proportion of the flour. Make parkin at least two days before eating to allow the flavours to develop and the cake to moisten up. In the north it is traditionally served on Guy Fawkes Night around the bonfire.
Ingredients
* oil or fat for greasing
* 100 g [1/4 lb] black treacle (molasses)
* 100 g [1/4 lb] soft brown sugar
* 100 g [1/4 lb] margarine or butter - (Online, I discovered traditional Parkin uses lard, so feel free to use that instead.)
* 100 g [1/4 lb] plain flour - (Substitute with your GF Plain Flour of choice. I used White Wings Gluten Free Plain Flour.)
* a pinch of salt
* 5 ml [1 teaspoon] ground ginger
* 5 ml [1 teaspoon] mixed spice
* 2.5 ml [1/2 teaspoon] bicarbonate of soda
* 100 g [1/4 lb] oatmeal - (Actual oatmeal. Ground up oats, not pressed or rolled oats, which Americans call oatmeal. Because oats aren't gluten free, I used almond meal instead.)
* 1 medium-sized egg
* 75 ml [5 tablespoons] milk
Method
1. Position the shelf in the centre of the oven. Heat oven to 160 C [325 F] gas mark 3.
2. Brush a deep 15 cm [6"] square tin with melted fat or oil, fully line and re-grease.
3. Place the treacle, sugar and fat in a heavy-based saucepan.
4. Place the saucepan over a low heat and heat gently, stirring from time to time until the fat has melted and the sugar dissolved. Remove the pan from the heat and allow to cool.
5. Sift the flour into the bowl with the salt, spices and bicarbonate of soda. Stir in the oatmeal.
6. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients. Whisk the egg and milk together lightly and add to the dry ingredients.
7. When sufficiently cooled, pour the melted mixture into the dry ingredients.
8. Using a metal spoon, stir the ingredients together until smoothly blended.
9. Pour the batter into the prepared tin and bake for 1 - 1 1/4 hours until cake is firm to the touch.
10. Leave cake to cool in tin for 10 minutes. Turn cake out onto a wire rack and remove lining paper. Leave to cool.
Variations
* For an orange- or lemon-flavoured parkin, omit the spices and use 10 ml [2 teaspoons] finely grated orange or lemon zest.
* For a lighter cake, use honey or golden syrup instead of treacle.
My Notes
A couple of things:
* Gluten-free cakes are naturally quite crumbly or biscuitty, so the only way my cake squares were going to look like the ones in the picture was if I froze the cake and sawed it up while it was rock-hard. It probably didn't help that I took mine out of the tin too soon, and tried to cut it up while it was warm. Not my fault; I had pets that were taking too great an interest in it to leave it out and vulnerable to their predations. So yes, my squares were moist and crumbly, but all those cake fragments left on the cutting board after I'd finished sure tasted delicious. Cooking it by the regular method using oats may result in a more solid end product, but I don't know because this is my first attempt at this recipe.
(EDIT - After cooling in the refrigerator, my Parkin turned out to be regular, cake-y consistency, and not abnormally crumbly, so I've come to the conclusion that it was just me cutting it too soon.)
* Again, another problem that may be restricted to the GF version. It said to test when it was done by feeling when the top was "firm to the touch". Mine never went firm to the touch; it was soft and slightly tacky. I found a much more accurate way of testing when it was done was by using a skewer to test, and when it came out clean from the centre, it was done.
* Believe them when they say this cake is better after two days. It really, really is. It gets much moister, and the flavours much stronger. Of course, you're not going to be able to resist a slice or two in the first day; after all, you've had to smell it baking. But try not to eat it all in the first twenty four hours, or you're missing out. If all else fails, make a double quantity of batter, and eat one cake right after you've baked it and the other after a couple of days. :D