Parkin Cake
Golden syrup, black treacle and oatmeal come together in this British dessert — 55 minutes, 6 steps, and the kind of result worth repeating. You'll find the full ingredient list (with a scaler to change the servings), 6 steps of method, substitutions, and ideas for what to serve alongside.
You'll mainly reach for oven and pan. At medium difficulty across 6 steps, it's manageable with a little attention. As written, it's meat-free.
What you'll need
Shopping list (3)
Pantry staples (you likely have these)
🔁 Unit converter
How to make it
- Heat oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 3. Grease a deep 22cm/9in square cake tin and line with baking parchment. Beat the egg and milk together with a fork.
- Gently melt the syrup, treacle, sugar and butter together in a large pan until the sugar has dissolved.
- Remove from the heat.
- Mix together the oatmeal, flour and ginger and stir into the syrup mixture, followed by the egg and milk.
- Pour the mixture into the tin and bake for 50 mins - 1 hr until the cake feels firm and a little crusty on top.
- Cool in the tin then wrap in more parchment and foil and keep for 3-5 days before eating if you can – it’ll become softer and stickier the longer you leave it, up to 2 weeks.
You'll use: Oven · Pan
Watch how it's made
Hosted on YouTube — pressing play loads content from YouTube.
Ingredient substitutions
- Butter
- olive oil (¾ the amount) · coconut oil · margarine
- Milk
- any unsweetened plant milk · ½ cup evaporated milk + ½ cup water
- Brown Sugar
- white sugar + 1 tbsp molasses per cup
- Self-raising Flour
- 1 cup plain flour + 1½ tsp baking powder + ¼ tsp salt
What to serve with Parkin Cake
- Smoky Lentil Chili with Squash Vegetarian
- Fish pie Seafood
- Beef Wellington Beef
- Toad In The Hole Pork
Tips & common questions
How long does Parkin Cake take to make?
About 55 minutes from start to finish — an estimate based on the 6 steps and 9 ingredients. Times vary with your kitchen and how much prep you do ahead.
What can I use instead of butter?
Try olive oil (¾ the amount). See the substitutions section above for more swaps.
Can I scale this recipe up or down?
Yes — use the servings control above the ingredients and every quantity rescales automatically (fractions included). Cooking times stay roughly the same; very large batches may need a little longer.
Is Parkin Cake vegetarian?
Its ingredients contain no meat or fish, so it's suitable for vegetarians. Check any cheeses for animal rennet if that matters to you.
Related recipes
Recipe data for Parkin Cake via TheMealDB (open database). ▶ Video. Original source. Consomee adds the scaler, ingredient tools, timing and structure — how we source recipes.