Step 1

Grease and line a 33cm by 23cm (13ins by 9ins) cake pan (see tips above) and preheat your oven to 180C / 160C fan/ gas mark 4 / 350F.

Step 2

Place the butter, golden syrup and treacle in a pan. Cook over a low heat until the butter is just melted.

Step 3

Meanwhile, place the flour, ginger, mixed spice, nutmeg and baking soda in a large bowl and stir together until thoroughly combined.

Step 4

Next, whisk together the milk and eggs in a jug.

Step 5

As soon as the butter has melted, remove the pan from the heat and add the dark muscovado sugar.

Step 6

Pour the butter/sugar mixture into the bowl containing the flour and spices, and stir everything together.

Step 7

Next, pour the eggs/milk mixture into the bowl containing the flour, spices, butter etc. and stir until thoroughly combined.

Step 8

Finally stir in the juice and zest of the two oranges.

Step 9

Tip the mixture into your prepared cake pan (it should be quite runny and have little bubbles on the surface). Then pop it straight into your preheated oven.

Step 10

Cook for 40-45 minutes until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. (Use a teaspoon handle if you don’t have a skewer.)

Step 11

When done, remove the cake from the oven and leave it to cool for 10 minutes in the tin,. Then lift it out onto a cooling rack, using the baking paper to help you.

Step 12

Either eat the gingerbread warm, or leave to cool completely before wrapping it up, first in a layer of baking paper, then a layer of tin foil. Wrapped like this the cake will keep for up to 2 weeks.

Step 13

Alternatively decorate the cooled cake, as per the instructions below.

Step 14

**Do not try to decorate the cake until it is completely cold!**

Step 15

Start by cutting up the stem ginger (if using), into ½cm / ¼inch cubes.

Step 16

Next, sieve the icing sugar into a bowl and add the lemon juice slowly until you have a thick paste. It should be quite thick, but still spreadable. (If after adding all the lemon juice, your icing is still too thick, add some cold water, 1 teaspoonful at a time, until you get the desired consistency.)

Step 17

Using a tablespoon, drizzle the icing over the cake in a zigzag pattern to achieve the graffiti effect.

Step 18

Finally, scatter over the cubed stem ginger.

Step 19

Cut the cake into 24 pieces and serve.