Potted Parkin (Gingerbread With A Creamy Crème Fraîche Frosting)

• For the Cake
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground mace
• 6 to 12 half-grinds black pepper -- just a pinch
• 1 pinch fine sea salt
• 1/2 cup (1 cube) butter
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 2 large eggs plus one yolk
• 1/2 cup Lyle's Golden Syrup
• 1/2 cup stout -- Oatmeal Stout by Samuel Smith works particularly well and gives you your daily intake of complex carbohydrates. Kidding.
• Grated zest of one large orange (about 1 tablespoon)
• 3 tablespoons crystallized ginger, the non-uniform type coated in granulated sugar, cut into small dice and tossed with a little flour to prevent sinking
• For the frosting
• 1 8-ounce block of Neufchatel cheese or cream cheese, softened
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 3 heaping tablespoons creme fraiche
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons Lyle's Golden Syrup
• 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar (more or less to suit taste), measured and then sifted

1. Preheat oven to 350u0b0 F and butter and flour a 9-inch round cake pan. Line the pan with baking parchment -- else the crystallized ginger will bond with the pan like crazy glue. Butter and flour the parchment for good measure.
2. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, spices, and salt. Whisk together and set aside.
3. In a large bowl with an electric mixer, cream the butter with the sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the golden syrup. Stir in the orange zest.
4. Add the dry ingredients and the stout alternately in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour mixture, beating after each until just combined; do not over-beat or cake will be tough. Stir in diced ginger. Batter will be fairly liquid.
5. Scrape batter into prepared pan, smooth with a rubber scraper, and rotate back and forth briskly a few times to settle the batter in the pan. Place on rack in center of oven. Bake 20 to 35 minutes or just until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
6. Cool cake on a rack 10 minutes, run a sharp knife around edge, and invert onto an oiled cake rack to cool completely. Remove parchment. Best made a day ahead.
7. Serve with a dollop of the following:
8. Combine the cream cheese, butter, and creme fraiche in a medium bowl and beat with electric mixer until combined. Beat in Golden Syrup, then confectioners' sugar by the tablespoon, tasting as you go. When it tastes right, it's done. You may need to chill the frosting in the fridge for an hour or so to firm it up; it will be pretty soft.
9. Frost the top of the cake generously. There will likely be enough left over for you to store in a monkey dish in the fridge and spoon out when no one is looking.
10. Put the kettle on, make a cup of coffee or two, and cut a couple of fat slices of cake, one for you, one for a friend.

flour, baking soda, ground ginger, ground cinnamon, ground cloves, ground mace, black pepper, salt, butter, brown sugar, eggs, syrup, stout, orange, ginger, frosting, cream cheese, unsalted butter, crueme frueiche, salt, vanilla, syrup, confectioners

Taken from food52.com/recipes/20119-potted-parkin-gingerbread-with-a-creamy-creme-fraiche-frosting (may not work)