The Classic Sticky Ginger Parkin cake comes from Yorkshire and is traditionally eaten on Bonfire Night in the UK. If you’re a gingerbread fan you need to try it! Make it a few days ahead of time and it will become even more sticky and spicy.
I searched for years for a really good recipe for Yorkshire Parkin. Maybe it wasn’t the recipes that were at fault – my impatience might have had much to do with it!
Little did I know the perfect recipe was right under my nose, sitting in my kitchen cupboard in my Great Grandmother’s 1950’s Good Housekeeping book.
You probably have a cookbook just like it in your own home – falling apart with pages missing, notes hastily scribbled in the footnotes of recipes and the spine long gone.
what is parkin?
Parkin is a traditional ginger cake flavoured with golden syrup, treacle and spices. Oatmeal gives the the cake a pleasingly nubbly texture. It’s quite hard to explain, but it’s more substantial than your classic gingerbread cake.
It isn’t a light, airy cake – it’s dense, sticky and completely delicious.
a little bit of history
Parkin is believed to date back to the 17th Century. It is commonly associated with Yorkshire, but it is extremely popular throughout Northern England, notably Lancashire. The name Parkin is derived from “Perkin”, a traditional term for gingerbread.
Of course, the most famous Yorkshire recipe is Yorkshire puddings!
make it in advance
Parkin cake hugely benefits from being made several days in advance. Wrap it up in baking paper, place in an airtight tin and forget all about it for a few days. You will end up with a beautifully rich, moist spicy cake that is just perfect with a cup of tea.
If you’re planning on going to a Firework/Bonfire display in the next few days, do yourself a favour and tuck a slab of Parkin in your coat pocket. Your future self will thank you for it!
So this is it – the best Parkin recipe I’ve tried (so far!) I’ve increased the ginger flavour even further by adding some of that gorgeous preserved ginger in syrup.
It makes the cake slightly more expensive to make, but I think it’s worth doing. You won’t usually find preserved stem ginger in a traditional Parkin recipe, but I highly recommend it. Especially if you’re a big ginger fan like me. I also love to use ginger in syrup in these rhubarb and ginger muffins and my sticky gingerbread cupcakes.
ingredient list
keep scrolling to the bottom of the post to find a printable recipe card with ingredient amounts and detailed instructions.
- Plain (all-purpose) Flour
- Ground ginger and freshly grated nutmeg. You can use ground, but freshly grated gives the best flavour.
- Bicarbonate of soda is used to make the cake rise.
- Salt
- Medium Oatmeal – not rolled oats (see recipe notes below)
- Butter or baking margarine (not low-fat spread)
- Light or Dark muscavado Sugar. I love the treacly richness of the dark brown sugar, but both will work fine.
- Golden Syrup – if you don’t live in the UK and have difficulty locating golden syrup, you can buy it online. Corn syrup will not give the same flavour.
- Black Treacle or Molasses
- Milk
- Egg
- Preserved Ginger in syrup (not traditional, but the more ginger flavour the better in my book!)
WHAT is the difference between rolled oats and Oatmeal?
Rolled oats – also known as porridge oats are oat groats that have been flattened. They are larger than oatmeal and are not suitable for this recipe.
Oatmeal has a much finer texture than rolled oats. It resembles coarse flour and comes in three types –
- Fine
- Medium
- Coarse (pinhead)
I recommend the medium oatmeal for this recipe. The pin head variety would make the parkin too crunchy and nubbly, although some people may not object to this.
If you can’t find medium oatmeal, it is possible to grind rolled oats in a food processor or blender. Just be sure not to take it too far – you don’t want to turn it into oat flour!
For clarification – the white bowl in the picture below contains rolled (porridge) oats and the bowl on the bottom is medium oatmeal.
how to make ginger parkin cake
Ingredient amounts and detailed instructions are in the recipe card at the bottom of the post.
- Sift all the dry ingredients together and stir in the oatmeal.
- Melt the butter, brown sugar, golden syrup, treacle and milk in a pan. Heat gently until the mixture has melted and the sugar has dissolved.
- Remove from the heat and cool slightly for a few minutes before stirring in a beaten egg.
- Pour this treacly mixture over the dry ingredients, stirring to mix until you have a smooth, shiny batter. The mixture will be quite liquid.
- Pour into a greased and lined 20cm square cake tin and bake at 180C/160 Fan/Gas mark 4 for 35-45 minutes or until the parkin is glossy on the top and a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.
storing parkin cake
Once the parkin is completely cold, wrap it in baking parchment and store in an airtight tin.
The parkin will benefit from up to 7 days maturing. Please resist the temptation to dive in straight away!
storage instructions
Ginger Parkin will keep well for 2 weeks in an airtight tin. Wrap it up in a double layer of baking parchment and a piece of tin foil before storing it in the tin.
The longer you leave it, the better the texture and flavour will be. Your patience will be rewarded!
want to see more ginger cakes and bakes?
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Sticky Ginger Parkin
This Classic Sticky Ginger Parkin cake with oatmeal and treacle comes from Yorkshire and is traditionally eaten on Bonfire Night in the UK. If you're a gingerbread fan you need to try it! Make it a few days ahead of time and it will become even more sticky and spicy.
Ingredients
- 225g Plain Flour
- 1 Tablespoon Ground Ginger
- 1/2 Teaspoon Freshly grated or ground nutmeg
- 1/2 Teaspoon Bicarbonate of Soda
- 1/4 Tsp Salt
- 125g Medium Oatmeal
- 125g Butter
- 125g Light or Dark muscavado Sugar
- 100g Golden Syrup
- 100g Treacle or Molasses
- 75ml Milk
- 1 Egg, Beaten
- 25g finely chopped preserved ginger (in syrup)
- 1 Tablespoon of the preserved ginger syrup
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180C/160Fan/350F/Gas Mark 4. Grease and line and base and sides of a 20cm square cake tin.
- Sift the flour, ginger, nutmeg, bicarbonate of soda and salt into a large bowl. Stir in the oatmeal.
- Place the butter, sugar, golden syrup, treacle and milk in a saucepan. Heat gently until the mixture has melted and the sugar has dissolved. Take off the heat and allow to cool for 5 minutes or so before adding the egg.
- Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the treacly mixture, stirring lightly until the mixture is smooth. Stir in the chopped preserved ginger and the ginger syrup.
- Pour this rather liquid batter into the tin and bake for 35-40 minutes. When it's ready the top of the parkin will be shiny, smooth and a skewer inserted in the middle of the cake will emerge clean. Leave to cool completely in the tin.
- When the cake is cold, wrap in baking parchment and store in an airtight tin. If you can bear to leave it for 3-5 days, it will taste even better!
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 12 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 269Total Fat: 9gSaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 38mgSodium: 139mgCarbohydrates: 44gNet Carbohydrates: 0gFiber: 1gSugar: 23gSugar Alcohols: 0gProtein: 3g
I am not sure about the difference between oatmeal and rolled oats. Trying to search the difference has left me even more confused!
I’ve discovered it’s a bit of a minefield! Who knew there were so many different types of oats? I used Hamlyn’s medium oatmeal for this recipe. Oatmeal is basically rolled oats ground finely (I think!) so as long as you use oatmeal and not rolled oats you’ll be fine. Rolled oats are too big and would change the texture of the Parkin. Hope this makes sense!
where do u find preserved ginger (in syrup)
Most large supermarkets stock it 🙂 are you in the UK?
The medium oatmeal I bought stayed hard in the cake. Can I blend it down next time so I don’t have the same problem?
Yes, you can certainly blend the oatmeal to a finer texture next time 🙂
What should we substitute if we don’t want to use oatmeal? I want my partner to like the traditional cake of my home county, but she doesn’t like the texture oatmeal gives
Hi Nick, I’ve never tried making Parkin without oatmeal, so I’m honestly not sure how it would turn out. I guess it would just be like a normal ginger cake, but since I’ve not tried this particular recipe without the oatmeal, I’m afraid I couldn’t guarantee it would work.