Traditional Yorkshire Parkin

5 from 2 votes

Simple and easy to make, this Traditional Yorkshire Parkin contains Medium Oatmeal, golden syrup, and dark treacle. It improves with age and can be made ahead of time which is why I love making it at any time of year.

Prep Time15

Cook Time45

Total Time1

Course: Afternoon Tea

Cuisine: British

Keyword: Golden Syrup, Medium Oats, Parkin, Treacle

Servings:

Calories: 239kcal

Author: Lynn

Equipment

8 inch Square Cake Tin
Baking Parchment
Cake Skewer

Ingredients

200 grams Butter Unsalted
100 grams Soft Dark Brown Sugar
100 grams Black Treacle or Molasses
150 grams Golden Syrup
110 grams Medium Oatmeal or roughly blitzed porridge oats
180 grams Self Raising Flour
¾ teaspoon Baking Powder
2 teaspoon Ground Ginger or to taste
2 Medium eggs lightly beaten
2 tbs Milk Whole or Semi Skimmed

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 170c conv/150deg Fan Assisted. Grease and line an 8"/20cm square, loose bottomed cake tin with baking parchment. Essential as the cake batter is looser than most cakes.
Place the Butter, Black Treacle, Golden Syrup and Brown Sugar in a pan over a low heat. Gently simmer until all the sugar and butter have melted.
200 grams Butter, 100 grams Black Treacle, 150 grams Golden Syrup, 100 grams Soft Dark Brown Sugar
Take off the heat and leave to one side to cool a little.
Place all the dry ingredients consisting of Oatmeal, Flour, Baking Powder and Ginger, into a large heat proof bowl and gently mix together.
110 grams Medium Oatmeal, 180 grams Self Raising Flour, ¾ teaspoon Baking Powder, 2 teaspoon Ground Ginger
Pour the cooled sugar treacle mix over the dry ingredients and mix until well combined.
Add the milk and lightly beaten eggs. Give everything a good mix until well combined.
2 Medium eggs, 2 tbs Milk
Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake in the oven for 45 mins or until cooked, testing the centre of the cake with a skewer until it comes out clean.
Leave in the tin to cool for around 15 mins before removing from the tin then leave to cool completely before serving or wrapping to keep in an airtight container.

Notes

Parkin is a Gingerbread style cake made with Golden Syrup, Dark Treacle, and Medium Oatmeal. It is more well known throughout Yorkshire and Lancashire where it is often baked around Bonfire Night and Guy Fawkes night on 5th November.

Treacle is a very thick dark sticky syrup made from partially refined sugar. Outside the UK, treacle is also known as Molasses. There are several grades of treacle, ranging from Golden Syrup to Dark Black Treacle.

Oatmeal, Medium Oatmeal or Pinhead Oatmeal is a finer grain of Oats and is often used to make Porridge. Not to be confused with Whole Oats or jumbo oats which are not suitable for this recipe unless you blitz them.

Parkin is one of those cakes that improves with age. It does taste lovely, sticky, and moist once baked, and is the ideal cake to save and keep for a few days or even weeks if tightly wrapped in an airtight container.

Porridge Oats. Medium Oats are best for making a Traditional Yorkshire Parkin, but you can use roughly blitzed Porridge Oats if that is all you have.

Occasionally Parkin can sink in the middle during baking. Get the cake in the oven as quickly as possible and try not to open the oven door too soon to check that it's baked. If it does sink, it will still taste great. No one will notice once you begin slicing into portions.

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