Spicing For Chocolate Gingerbread

Our answer

Nigella's Chocolate Gingerbread (from FEAST) is a sticky chocolate cake that is flavoured with the warm spices of clove, cinnamon and ginger. Cloves are the dried immature buds from the clove tree. The flavour of cloves can be quite strong and it is usually a mixture of sweet and bitter, with some heat. Cloves are often used whole and left to infuse flavour into a dish, such as pilau rice. If ground cloves are used then it is usually in small quantities.

If you are not sure if you like the flavour of cloves then it is fine to omit them from the recipe. You could use another spice, such as ground cardamom, that goes well with the combination of chocolate and other spices. You would need to use ½ to 1 teaspoon of ground cardamom, as it is a less powerful spice. Alternatively add 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract to the cake batter with the milk, as vanilla helps to bring out the flavour of chocolate and complements both cinnamon and ginger.