Dan Lepard's malt whisky ginger cake recipe

The smoky peat flavour of malt whisky is here given a kick by the sharpness of the ginger. No longer the Methodist tea-time cake of yore, so hopefully a slice won't send anyone to hell just yet. 50g unsalted butter 100g black treacle 75g muscovado sugar 2 medium eggs 25ml sunflower oil 75ml blended or single malt whisky 100g chopped glacé ginger 175g plain flour 1½ tsp bicarbonate of soda 3 tsp ground ginger 3¼ tsp mixed spice 175g icing sugar Line the base and sides of a 17cm loaf tin or similar with nonstick paper, and heat the oven to 180C (160C fan-assisted)/350F/gas mark 4. Melt the butter, remove from the heat and stir in the treacle and sugar until any lumps soften. Beat in the eggs until mixed through evenly, then do the same with the oil and whisky. Stir in the glacé ginger. Sift into the mix the flour, bicarbonate of soda and three teaspoons each of ground ginger and mixed spice, and beat in well. Spoon into the prepared tin and bake for 45 minutes, or until a skewer inserted pulls out clean. Leave to cool in the tin, then beat a quarter-teaspoon of mixed spice with the icing sugar and 25ml water, and spread this over the cake. danlepard.com/guardian