Spiced treacle cake with apple and hazelnuts

A pleasing cupboard clearer of a recipe

My daughter recently turned six months old. She is officially on the return leg of her debut trip around the sun, and I’ve edged into the second half of my maternity leave.

It’s a milestone I have mixed feelings about. The pros: Rose is alive, happy and thriving. My husband and I are also alive - if a little more lined and worn around the edges - and (mostly!) happy and thriving, too. I am now slightly less shellshocked by the seismic shift of new parenthood than I was six months ago. My daughter, while not exactly low maintenance, is far easier to look after; I know her ticks, her tricks and usually (although I must caveat, not always) why she is crying and how to remedy it. And she’s pretty great company these days, too - she can sit up, busy herself reading books (us, deluded, love-blinded first time parents?) and seems so hungry to take in the world around her.

The cons: all of a sudden, it really does feel like time is running away with me. The early days felt endless, but now, this precious time with my daughter feels like water cupped in my hands, spilling through my fingers no matter how tightly I try and hold onto it. My brain still largely feels as though it is made of mash potato, and as the prospect of returning to work feels a little closer, I do worry about when it’s going to crank back into gear. And, alas, the enhanced maternity pay I enjoyed in the first half of my leave has now finished, which means it’s belt tightening time.

I’m not looking for sympathy. Indeed, I am lucky to work for a company that provides good parental benefits - as all companies should, I might add - and in any case, between travelling, studying and then living in London on an entry level PR salary for several years, I am no stranger to thrift and economy.

I’ve also learnt that once you’ve got the essentials, babies really don’t need to cost the earth. Sure, Baby Sensory sounds fun, but Rose seems pretty happy without the £25 a pop classes full of funny hats and lava lamps. We walk a lot, we go to the swings in the park, we have our friends over, we play with her plethora of excellent hand-me-down toys and, joyfully, we bake. I know this period of happily sitting and watching me in the kitchen won’t last forever, but I’m enjoyed it while it does.

Of course, baking can get expensive too, and that’s why I’ve been using this time as an opportunity to cleanse and clear. Shopping sprees at the farmers market and Eataly (if you haven’t been, you simply must) are on indefinite hold. Instead, I’ve dug through our cupboards, pulling out all the rogue jars, tins, packets and unidentifiable objects lurking at the back. I’ve thrown away the half empty, shrivelled pots of food colouring and sprinkles which expired in 2014 that I simply could not part with and have, it appears, moved house with six times (yes, six). And now, I’m making it my mission to bake my way through everything that’s left.

First up - three open and half full tins of treacle which, I suspect, are the remnants of my short lived but memorably intense mince pie mania of 2019 (they were delicious though, if you’re reading this and you bought them for your Christmas parties - thank you! What a time!).

Treacle is a gift of an ingredient. It’s rich, unctuous and deeply flavourful - and also brings its gorgeous inky blackness when used in generous quantities. It is, however, prone to overwhelm, which is why I’ve combined it with brown sugar in this recipe. Warming winter spices - ginger, cardamom, clove - are treacle’s great friends, cutting through its sweetness and developing its rich molasses flavour in this cake.

This cake is a tea cake, or a ‘snacking cake’ in the US. A slice with a steaming mug of tea at 3pm, just as the grey February skies are starting to gloom, has been my treat this week - why not make it yours, too?

Spiced treacle cake with apple and hazelnuts

This cake, like most of my recipes, strives for flexibility - so if apples or hazelnuts aren’t your thing, top with other fruits and nuts or, if you prefer, bake in a loaf tin instead and leave the top plain. I suspect a simple lemon icing (lemon juice + icing sugar) would be delicious on this too.

110g unsalted butter

90g light brown sugar

150g plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

2+1/2 tsp mixed spice, or if you prefer, a mix of ground ginger, cinnamon, cardamom and clove

1/2 tsp fine salt

110g treacle

2 eggs

1 apple

30g hazelnuts, coarsely chopped

1 tbsp golden syrup, optional

Heat your oven to 170C and grease and line a 7” cake tin with baking paper.

First brown your butter. Place in a saucepan over a medium heat, then cook until foamy and browned. Set aside to cool slightly until ready to use.

Put the flour, baking powder, spices and salt in a large bowl and whisk to combine. Add the eggs and treacle and mix in, then add the browned butter and whisk until everything is smooth. Pour into the lined tin.

Finely slice the apple - I don’t both peeling them, but you can if you prefer - and arrange on the top of the cake. Add the chopped hazelnuts, then bake for 25-35 minutes until risen and browning.

If you like, heat up the golden syrup and then brush over the cake to glaze.