This delightfully sticky Yorkshire parkin is the perfect autumn dessert for Bonfire Night! This dark, rich gingerbread cake is made with oats, molasses (black treacle), and golden syrup. You'll love each bite of this wonderfully moist cake!
Round out your Bonfire Night celebration with this meat and potato pie and a bowl of broccoli and Stilton soup!
Quick Look at the Recipe
- ⏲️ Prep Time: 25 minutes
- ⏲️ Cook Time: 40minutes
- ⏲️ Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
- 🍽️ Yield: 9 large slices
- 🥕 Dietary Info: can be made Vegan, Gluten Free, and Dairy Free.
- ⚡ Calories: 512 calories per slice (based on nutrition facts in recipe card)
- 🍯 12 Ingredients: unsalted butter, golden syrup, molasses (black treacle), eggs, milk, flour, ground ginger, mixed spice, baking soda (bicarb), salt, dark brown sugar (muscovado), and medium oatmeal.
- 🥣 Method: Hand Mixing & Baking.
- ⌛ Time-Saving Hack: Use a kitchen scale to quickly and easily measure all the solid ingredients and syrups.
- 🔪 Equipment: mixing bowls, whisk, spatula, and 9x9-inch pan.
- ⭐ Expert Tip: Make your own medium oatmeal by pulsing steel-cut oats in a food processor or blender until it has a coarse flour texture.
- 🍰 Flavor & Texture: This parkin has a rich, deep flavor from the molasses and spices, and has the perfect chewy, sticky texture.
Summarize or save this content on
Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Authentic Flavor & Texture: Over the years, parkin has had a few tweaks (like adding golden syrup and spices), but its flavor and texture is authentic to what's enjoyed in England today.
- Easy to Make: With about 20 minutes of prep time and 12 simple ingredients, this cake is easy to mix up. Kids and teens would love to make this too!
- Make Ahead Friendly: This parkin tastes best after sitting for 3-5 days, as this gives it time to get its signature sticky texture. It keeps in an airtight tin for up to 2 weeks.
Featured Comment
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "This is absolutely delicious!! I love the warm treacle flavor of this cake and the oats are a really neat addition, as they have a nice crunch. This is a perfect cozy treat on a cold fall day!"
- Alex
Jump to:
Ingredients
Curious what ingredients you need to make Yorkshire parkin? Grab these key ingredients, along with a few others, and you'll be ready to start baking!
- Molasses (Black Treacle): This is the traditional ingredient that brings the deep color and rich flavor to Yorkshire parkin. It's called molasses in the US and Canada, and black treacle in the UK and in many Commonwealth countries.
- Golden Syrup: This sugar syrup is similar to molasses, but has a lighter color and buttery flavor. It's traditionally used in Lancashire parkin, but modern recipes combine it with treacle. In the US, this is in the international section of your grocery store, can be ordered online, or you can make your own golden syrup.
- Medium Oatmeal: This is a coarse oat flour that's often used in English and Scottish baked goods. Make your own by pulsing steel-cut oats in a food processor or blender until it has a flour-like texture with some chunks.
- Spices: I use a combination of ground ginger and mixed spice to bring a wonderful gingerbread flavor to the cake. Feel free to leave out the mixed spice if you prefer.
See recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
Variations & Substitutions
- Gluten Free: Use your favorite measure-for-measure gluten free flour to replace the wheat flour. Brands like Bob's Red Mill and King Arthur are great options here in the US. Ensure your other ingredients, especially the oats, are certified gluten free as well.
- Dairy Free: Use your favorite dairy-free butter alternative, or use a mild-flavored oil such as coconut oil. Use your favorite dairy-free milk as well.
- Vegan: Follow the dairy-free suggestions above, and also use two flax eggs (or one-half cup of unsweetened applesauce) to replace the 2 eggs in the cake.
How to Make Parkin
- Pour the butter, golden syrup, and molasses (black treacle) into a heavy-based saucepan and place over medium heat. Stir until the butter is melted.
- Beat the eggs and milk together in a medium bowl until smooth and combined.
- Whisk the flour, spices, baking soda (bicarb), and salt in a large bowl until combined.
- Mix the brown sugar (muscovado) into the flour, then stir in the butter and syrup mixture. Finally, add the egg mixture and stir to combine.
- Spread the batter in a greased and lined 9x9-inch pan.
- Bake at 350°F for 40 minutes, or until the parkin is risen, crispy, and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Let the parkin cool completely on a wire rack, then remove it from the tin and cut into large squares or fingers.
- Store the parkin in a metal tin for 3-5 days to allow it to develop a sticky texture. Enjoy with a cup of tea on Bonfire Night!
Recipe FAQs
Parkin is a rich, dark gingerbread cake from northern England, typically the regions of Yorkshire and Lancashire. It is enjoyed on Guy Fawkes Night on November 5.
This hearty cake contains oats, since wheat does not grow well in the cold, damp climate of northern England. Historically, fresh oats were ready around the first week of November, which is when parkin is traditionally served.
This dessert is a modernized version of the medieval tharf cake, which was traditionally cooked on a griddle, like traditional Scottish oatcakes, since only the rich had ovens. The importing of sugar and molasses in the 1650s allowed home cooks to make parkin sweeter, giving rise to the parkin we know and love today.
No one knows how the name 'parkin' originated! Many stories have cropped up to try to explain this unusual name. One theory is that Parkin, which means 'Peter', is a popular surname in Yorkshire and was simply used to refer to this cake.
A more fantastical theory is that a young girl named Mary Parkin served this cake to a dragon that was going to destroy her village. Its jaws stuck together upon eating the cake, and the village was saved.
Parkin consists of butter, golden syrup, black treacle (molasses), eggs, milk, plain flour, ginger, baking soda (bicarb), dark brown sugar (dark muscovado sugar), and medium oatmeal. I also added a touch of mixed spice (a warm British spice blend often used in sweets) and salt for a balanced flavor. (Traditional recipes would have used drippings or lard in place of the butter.)
Medium oatmeal is a coarse flour made from oats, and is often used in English and Scottish baking recipes. To make your own, simply pulse steel-cut oats in a blender or food processor until it has a coarse flour-like consistency with some small chunks.
Parkin tastes like a rich gingerbread cake with a hearty texture from the medium oatmeal in it. It has a sticky exterior and moist texture that make it chewy and utterly delicious!
Serving Yorkshire Parkin
In northern England, Parkin is traditionally enjoyed on Bonfire Night (Guy Fawkes Night), which is November 5. Round it out with other Bonfire Night favorites, such as a mug of hot tea, treacle toffee, toffee apples, and jacket potatoes cooked in the coals. Or, enjoy this as a dessert with a hearty British meal of minced beef pie, mushy peas, and sautéed beet greens.
Expert Tips
- Make your own medium oatmeal by pulsing steel-cut oats in a food processor or blender until they have the texture of coarse flour with some small chunks. Do not substitute with rolled oats, steel-cut oats, or quick-cooking oats, as they have an entirely different texture.
- Yorkshire parkin is made with only black treacle and has a stronger flavor, whereas Lancashire parkin is made with only golden syrup and has a milder flavor. This recipe uses a combination of both. Feel free to replace the golden syrup for an equal weight of extra black treacle for an authentic Yorkshire parkin.
- For the best sticky, chewy texture, let the parkin slices sit in an airtight metal tin for 3-5 days before enjoying. Separate layers of cake with parchment paper to prevent sticking.
Other British Desserts You'll Love
Recipe
Yorkshire Parkin
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 5 tablespoons golden syrup
- 1½ cup molasses, black treacle
- 2 large eggs
- ⅓ cup whole milk
- 1⅛ cup all-purpose flour, plain flour
- 1 tablespoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon mixed spice
- 1 teaspoon baking soda, bicarbonate of soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1⅛ cup dark brown sugar, dark muscovado sugar
- 2⅓ cup medium oatmeal
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 9x9-inch baking tin with butter and line it with parchment paper.
- Place the butter, golden syrup, and black treacle in a heavy-based medium saucepan. Stir over medium heat until the butter is melted and the mixture is combined.
- Beat the eggs with the milk until the mixture is smooth and set aside.
- Whisk the flour, ginger, baking soda, mixed spice, and salt in a large bowl until well mixed. Add the dark brown sugar and stir well.
- Pour in the butter mixture and stir until combined, then stir in the egg mixture. Mix only until no pockets of flour remain.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake at 350°F for 40-45 minutes, or until the cake is richly browned, crusty, and springy to the touch; it may sink a little in the center. A toothpick inserted into the center should come out clean.
- Let the parkin cool completely on a wire rack, about 1 hour, then turn it out of the tin, peel off the parchment, and cut into squares or fingers.
- Enjoy at room temperature with a cup of tea. Store the cake wrapped in parchment inside a metal tin; the cake will improve with age and tastes even better after sitting for 3-5 days. It will keep at room temperature for up to 2 weeks.
Video
Notes
- Make your own medium oatmeal by pulsing steel-cut oats in a food processor or blender until they have the texture of coarse flour with some small chunks. Do not substitute with rolled oats, steel-cut oats, or quick-cooking oats, as they have an entirely different texture.
- Yorkshire parkin is made with only black treacle and has a stronger flavor, whereas Lancashire parkin is made with only golden syrup and has a milder flavor. This recipe uses a combination of both. Feel free to replace the golden syrup for an equal weight of extra black treacle for an authentic Yorkshire parkin.
- For the best sticky, chewy texture, let the parkin slices sit in an airtight metal tin for 3-5 days before enjoying. Separate layers of cake with parchment paper to prevent sticking.
Nutrition
Serving sizes and nutritional information are only an estimate and may vary from your results.
Alex
This is absolutely delicious!! I love the warm treacle flavor of this cake and the oats are a really neat addition, as they have a nice crunch. This is a perfect cozy treat on a cold fall day!
Emma Fajcz
Thank you, Alex! I'm so glad that you loved this parkin.
Beth
Such a wonderful treat to have discovered! Northern English food never misses and this recipe is perfect. Oats and gingerbread is a great combination.
Emma Fajcz
Thank you! We're so glad that you enjoyed the parkin, Beth!