Classic Delia Smith parkin is a dark, oaty ginger cake made with medium oatmeal, syrup and black treacle. You stir the melted syrup, treacle, butter and sugar into the oatmeal and flour, then bake the parkin at 140°C for 90 minutes. One 18cm cake gives 8 wedges, and the recipe needs about 1 hour 50 minutes, plus cooling.
This Delia Smith parkin recipe is the oatmeal parkin from her book Delia’s Cakes, and her website gives the same recipe. Delia’s grandparents were sure it was a Yorkshire parkin, while her Lancashire friends say it is theirs. Either way, Delia says she loves it. She has printed the recipe at least five times since 1977, and the table after the FAQs compares them.
In her Book of Cakes (1977) and The Delia Collection: Baking (2003), Delia says to keep parkin for at least a week before eating it. Kept that long, parkin turns moist and sticky, and two weeks is even better, according to her Complete Cookery Course (1983 and 1992). For Bonfire Night or a chilly Halloween, the nights her website suggests it for, bake the parkin a week ahead. Once it is completely cold, keep it in an airtight tin, in its silicone liner if you used one.
Delia Smith Traditional Oatmeal Parkin
Dark, oaty and full of ginger, this cake bakes slowly and gets stickier the longer it sits in its tin.
8
servings15
minutes1
hour35
minutes430
kcalIngredients
- For the parkin:
225g (8oz) golden syrup
50g (2oz) black treacle
110g (4oz) block butter
110g (4oz) dark brown soft sugar
225g (8oz) medium oatmeal
110g (4oz) self-raising flour
2 level teaspoons ground ginger
a pinch of salt
1 large egg, beaten
1 tablespoon milk
Directions
- Oven: Heat the oven to 140°C, fan 120°C, gas mark 1. Fit an 18cm loose-based round cake tin with a pleated silicone liner, or grease it and line it with baking parchment.
- Warm: Stand the opened tins of syrup and treacle in a pan of barely simmering water for 5 minutes, so they pour easily.
- Melt: Weigh a saucepan on the scales and weigh the syrup and treacle straight into it. Add the butter and sugar and warm them over a gentle heat until the butter melts. Stay with the pan, because the mixture must not boil.
- Mix: Put the oatmeal, flour, ginger and a pinch of salt in a mixing bowl. Stir in the warm syrup mixture a little at a time until everything is well blended. Then beat in the egg and, last of all, the milk.
- Bake: Pour the mixture into the tin and bake it near the centre of the oven for 1½ hours.
- Cool: Leave the parkin in the tin for 30 minutes, then turn it out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
- Cutting this round cake into 8 wedges is my own choice. Her 18cm square version from 2003 makes 9 squares.
- In a three-oven Aga, her website suggests the simmering oven, at about 130°C, for 1¾ to 2 hours.
FAQs
Can I use porridge oats instead of medium oatmeal?
Yes, fine porridge oats work in this parkin instead of medium oatmeal, her website says. Chop large porridge flakes briefly in a food processor first.
Medium oatmeal is in every version of Delia’s parkin, and her older books say wholefood shops sell it. I find it in health food shops and some bigger supermarkets.
Can I leave out the black treacle?
Yes, you can make this parkin with all syrup and no black treacle, but in my view it will be paler and milder. The black treacle gives parkin its dark colour.
Delia went darker over the years, not lighter. Her 1992 Complete Cookery Course says a dark syrup tastes even better than syrup and treacle together. In 2003 she used molasses alone.
She uses black treacle in her sticky ginger puddings too, with three kinds of ginger.
Why did my parkin sink in the middle?
A parkin that sinks slightly in the middle is normal, so there is no need to worry. Delia says it “sometimes happens in Yorkshire too, I’m told”.
To test that the parkin is baked, press the centre gently at the end of the baking time. Delia’s test in 1983 and 1992 was a centre that feels springy to the touch.
Is this parkin gluten-free?
No, Delia’s parkin is not gluten-free as written, because self-raising flour is made from wheat. Her website lists the recipe under gluten-free recipes, so check the flour before you bake it for anyone who cannot eat gluten.
For a gluten-free parkin, I would use gluten-free self-raising flour and oatmeal labelled gluten-free. Ordinary oats can pick up gluten from wheat in the mill.
Her parkin versions: tin, syrup and baking time
Every version of Delia’s parkin bakes at 140°C, gas mark 1. Anything not in the table is as on the card, but the smaller 15cm cake from her Complete Cookery Course is different. That cake uses 175g oatmeal, 75g self-raising flour, 1½ teaspoons ground ginger, 1 small egg and 1 dessertspoon of milk.
| Book | Tin | Syrup and treacle | Fat and sugar | Bake |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Book of Cakes (1977), page 133 | 20cm (8in) square | 200g syrup, 25g black treacle plus 1 teaspoon | 110g margarine, 110g soft brown sugar | 1¾ to 2 hours |
| Complete Cookery Course (1983), pages 600-601 | 15cm (6in) square, the smaller cake | 110g syrup, 25g black treacle | 75g margarine, 75g soft brown sugar | about 1½ hours |
| Complete Cookery Course (1992), page 547 | 15cm (6in) square, the smaller cake | 150g dark syrup, or the 1983 syrup and treacle | 75g margarine, 75g soft brown sugar | about 1½ hours |
| The Delia Collection: Baking (2003), page 69 | 18cm (7in) square, 4cm deep, 9 squares | 200g molasses | 110g butter, 110g dark brown soft sugar | 1¾ hours |
| Delia’s Cakes (2014 edition) and her website = the card | 18cm round, loose-based | 225g syrup, 50g black treacle | 110g butter, 110g dark brown soft sugar | 1½ hours |
Her website explains the last change: every recipe from her first Book of Cakes was tested again for Delia’s Cakes.
