When the night’s begin to draw in and get darker, it makes me feel excited for Halloween, Bonfire Night and Christmas. But I really do miss the light nights! Well this Gingerbread Bonfire Cake is all about darkness anyway. Made with treacle, dark brown sugar and some Guinness for good measure. It was described as ‘Bonfire Night in a cake’ by my colleagues which is why I titled it appropriately. It really is the perfect cake for this time of year. Plus I’ve drenched it in a salted caramel sauce which is never a bad thing!
Step by step…
In a bowl I whisked together Guinness (you could also use another dark stout), black treacle, dark brown sugar, vegetable oil and eggs.
In another bowl I sifted together flour, bicarbonate of soda, ground ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Then I added this to the wet ingredients and mixed in.
To bake the cake I used a ring shaped bundt tin, you can easily pick one up if you don’t have one. I greased it with vegetable oil to ensure the cake didn’t stick. It baked for 45 minutes until it was a deep rich brown and a skewer came out clean. I let it cool for 5 minutes then tipped it out of the tin, then I left it to cool.
To decorate I smothered the cake with caramel sauce, then added chopped crystallised ginger on top for extra spice and a lovely crunch.
What caramel sauce should I use?
My favourite caramel sauce to use is my Homemade Caramel Sauce, it’s rich, smooth and absolutely divine! You can also easily add salt to it to make it into a salted caramel sauce. If you don’t want to make your own, it’s quite easy nowadays to find a good quality ready made caramel (or salted caramel) sauce in the shops or online. I have used Tesco’s Finest, Bonn Maman and Carnation Caramel in the past with great results.
Recommended equipment & ingredients*
| Bundt tin | Mixing bowls | Cooling rack |
| Kitchen scales | Salted Caramel Sauce |
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The Gingerbread Bonfire Cake is a really moist cake, full of warming smokey flavours and the rich caramel sauce is to die for!
More Gingerbread recipes…
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| Gingerbread Loaf Cake | Gingerbread House | Ginger & Lemon Cake |
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| Vegan Gingerbread Men | Vegan Gingerbread Trifles | Gingerbread Cupcakes |
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| Gingerbread Cake with Ginger Buttercream |
More recipes using Guinness…
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| Chocolate Guinness Cake with Baileys Buttercream | Guinness Chocolate Brownies |
Gingerbread Bonfire Cake with Salted Caramel Sauce
Ginger and black treacle cake with salted caramel sauce and crystallised ginger
Ingredients
For the sponge
- 250 ml Guinness or other dark stout
- 165 g Dark brown sugar
- 340 g Black treacle
- 175 ml Vegetable Oil
- 3 Eggs large
- 225 g Self raising flour
- 1/2 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 2 tbsp Ground ginger
- 1 tsp Cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp Nutmeg
For decoration
- 2 tbsp Crystallised ginger chopped
- 150 g Caramel sauce good quality shop bought or homemade
Instructions
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Pre-heat your oven to 160C Fan/180C/350F/Gas Mark 4. I grease my bundt tin with vegetable oil, and I use a pastry brush to get it into all of the cracks. If you have a preferred way of greasing your bundt tin that has always worked for you, then please do stick with it
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In a bowl whisk together the Guinness, black treacle, the dark brown sugar, vegetable oil and eggs
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In a separate bowl, sift together the plain flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, ground ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and the salt. Add this to the wet ingredients and mix in
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Pour into the cake tin and bake for 45 minutes until it is a deep rich brown colour and a skewer comes out clean
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Let it cool for 5 minutes then tip it out of the tin. If it doesn't come out straight away, run a knife along the edges and around the middle ring
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Leave to cool fully before smearing on the salted caramel sauce and garnishing with the chopped crystallised ginger. You may need to warm the caramel sauce for 15 seconds in the microwave to make it runny enough to drizzle over the cake
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This cake is amazing served with custard. Store leftovers in an airtight container and eat within 3 days
Recipe Notes
If you need a caramel sauce recipe, try my Homemade Caramel Sauce.
Recipe adapted from Chowhound.
If you like this, check out more of my Cake recipes!
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Photos are a real struggle at this time of year…… But my drooling for this cake does not seem to have been affected, so I guess it must be a really good one! Perfect for Autumn!!
Thanks Kate! Glad the lighting didn't affect your drooling for this cake!
This looks amazing! It's perfect for this time of the year and I can imagine how good the flavour combination is – spicy ginger and salted caramel.
It really is made for this time of year, thank you!
This is THE best season for baking- lots of wonderful themed bakes such as this one for Halloween & Bonfire Night and lots of flavoursome ingredients to choose from!
PS: I know exactly what you mean about photographing cakes at this time of year- I resort to only being able to bake at the weekend to make the most of the natural light!
I think I am going to have to save as much baking as I can for weekend, sometimes if can't wait that long for cake though! 🙂
I just fired up my laptop to search for a recipe for a bonfirey cake to make for a bonfire party we're having on Saturday night, as soon as I saw this in my feedly I knew I didn't need to look any further! So thank you! What size bundt tin did you use?
Thanks Kim! I hope you enjoy it as much as me and my colleagues did. My bundt tin is a 10" one 🙂
Love the sound of that flavour combination!
Hi Kat,
I just made this cake, and although I haven't eaten it yet, I'm sure it's delicious! It definitely smells and looks amazing. I came across this recipe as I scoured the internet for fun/interesting recipes with black treacle — mine was about to expire. Of course I also made Yorkshire Parkin, my favorite. 🙂
I posted a photo on Instagram and tagged you in it; I didn't let the caramel set enough so it's more of a drizzle, but I love how it shows off my bundt design.
Thanks for the great recipe! I'll be feeding the cake to all of my co-workers tomorrow as well, who I am sure will also be grateful to you!
This was the perfect cake to bake for my father-in-law, whose birthday is on the 5th November. He loved it so much he came back for an extra slice.
The cake is soft, moist, delicious and so easy to make. A little of it stuck in my bundt tin (my fault) but I patched it up and poured over the delicious caramel sauce, which is definitely worth making!!
Another delicious recipe from The Baking Explorer!!
Thanks so much Polly! I’m thrilled you liked it and happy birthday to your dad!
This cake sounds amazing and I have loads of dark treacle to use up. Is there an alternative I could use instead of Guinness or dark stout?
You could try a diet cola, or weak coffee. Or if you’d like some other ideas to use up black treacle, I have a collection of recipes you can find here: https://thebakingexplorer.com/leftover-black-treacle/