Yorkshire Moggy Cake

By
Elaine Lemm
Elaine Lemm
Elaine Lemm
Elaine Lemm is a renowned British food writer, classically trained chef, teacher, and author with over 25 years of experience writing about British food and cooking.
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Updated on 05/25/22
Yorkshire moggy cake
Getty Images
Prep: 10 mins
Cook: 60 mins
Total: 70 mins
Servings: 6 servings

If like me, you are from the beautiful county of Yorkshire in Northern England, you may be familiar with a Yorkshire Moggy Cake. If not, you may feel a little alarmed, as the word Moggy is also a familiar name for a non-pedigree cat or kitten.

Reassuringly, there are no cats involved in the making of this cake. Moggy cake is, in fact, ginger cake not unlike Parkin but without the oats so is lighter and more sponge-like. Moggy has been eaten in Yorkshire for centuries and the ginger cake and is perhaps better known in West Yorkshire region.

Moggy can be eaten as a cake with a cup of tea or as part of an afternoon tea or as a pudding. As a pudding, it should be warm, have lashings of custard poured over. It is super-delicious with stewed fruits and what a combination when served with roasted rhubarb; rhubarb and ginger are just perfect food partners.

Ingredients

  • 55 grams (2 ounces) butter
  • 110 grams (4 ounces) golden syrup
  • 2 tablespoons black treacle
  • 250 grams (8 ounces) self-rising flour
  • 115 grams (4 ounces) caster sugar
  • 1  1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
  • 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
  • 1 egg
  • 200 milliliters (7 ounces) milk

Steps to Make It

  1. Preheat the oven to 275 F. Grease a 22-centimer-square tin and line with greaseproof paper.

  2. In a small saucepan, slowly melt the butter, golden syrup and black treacle. Do not boil, the mixture, it just needs to be warm. Once melted give the mixture a good stir.

  3. Sieve the flour, sugar, ginger, and bicarbonate of soda into a large baking bowl. Slowly pour the melted butter mixture into the dry ingredients and stir thoroughly. The batter will be very stiff and unyielding, but don't worry.

  4.  Mix the egg and milk together in a jug.

  5. Very slowly pour the milk and egg into the thick batter while constantly stirring. The batter will gradually slacken and thin out. Keep stirring until smooth and shiny.

  6. Pour the thick batter into your prepared tin.

  7. Pop the cake into the center of the preheated oven and cook for about 1 hour. The cake will rise and start to turn golden brown. The cake is cooked when you a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.

  8. Once cooked, take the cake from the oven and leave it to cool in the tin placed on a cooling rack. Now for the difficult bit.

  9. Once the cake is cooled, remove from the tin, wrap tightly in foil and put away for 3 to 4 days to help the cake mature and become sticky and so even more delicious. If you are impatient, of course, you can eat it but if you wait, it is well worth it.

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
400 Calories
15g Fat
64g Carbs
6g Protein
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Nutrition Facts
Servings: 6
Amount per serving
Calories 400
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 15g 19%
Saturated Fat 7g 34%
Cholesterol 59mg 20%
Sodium 775mg 34%
Total Carbohydrate 64g 23%
Dietary Fiber 3g 10%
Protein 6g
Calcium 132mg 10%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)