Recently, we were kindly given this superb Gingerbread Loaf recipe from NorthLink Passenger Service Supervisor Kevin Loch, who mostly works onboard MV Hjaltland on the Aberdeen-Lerwick route. It is his grandma’s recipe and it is simply delicious! The loaf improves and deepens in flavour after a day or two, so it’s worth baking ahead of time! This recipe makes around 12 slices (depending on how thick you cut it!) and produces a soft, beautifully-spiced loaf. It was very easy to make, and left the whole kitchen smelling amazing afterwards! Ingredients: 115g (4oz / ⅓ cup) black treacle 60g (2oz / ¼ cup) golden syrup 115g (4oz / ½ cup) margarine 140ml milk 2 large eggs 225g (8oz / 1½ cups) plain flour 60g (2oz / ¼ cup) caster sugar 1 tsp mixed spice 2 tsp ground ginger 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda Melt the treacle, golden syrup and margarine together photo © Copyright Amy Leith Method: Preheat the oven to 170° C (fan). Gently melt the treacle, golden syrup and margarine together in a saucepan. Remove from the heat and stir in the milk photo © Copyright Amy Leith Once combined, remove from the heat, stir in the milk and leave to cool for 10 minutes. Sift together the flour, sugar, mixed spice, ginger and bicarbonate of soda into a large bowl. Whisk the eggs into the cooled wet ingredients mixture. Add wet and dry ingredients together photo © Copyright Amy Leith Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until fully combined. Combine the wet and dry ingredients and pour into lined loaf tin photo © Copyright Amy Leith Transfer the mixture into a lined 2lb loaf tin and bake in the oven for approximately one hour (or until ready). Every oven is different, so keep an eye on it – ours was ready at 55 minutes!# The completed gingerbread loaf ready to cut into slices photo © Copyright Amy Leith Allow to cool before cutting into slices, and enjoy! By Amy LeithBorn and raised in Aberdeen with an admiration for Orkney and Shetland, loves to travel and visit new places, enjoys cooking, always listening to music, spends a little too much time on TikTok. Pin it! Header image: Gingerbread Loaf recipe photo © Copyright Amy Leith