Rachel Allen's recipes for gingerbread, brioche or spicy courgette loaf are the perfect perk-me-up – so stash some away! (2024)

If you love carrot cake but fancy a bit of a change, then I recommend sweet courgette bread, below. It’s mildly spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves, and lasts for days. Toasted and spread with butter it’s also a real treat.

Making brioche, see below, is just great and a lot more straightforward than you might think. Sliced and spread with butter and strawberry jam is my favourite way to enjoy it, or even toasted and served with a smooth chicken liver pate. Making a chocolate brioche, also below, is just as easy and so delicious too. I’ve added finely grated orange zest into this recipe but feel free to leave it out or replace with some ground cinnamon.

And when it comes to spiced sweet loaves, it’s hard to beat this dark sticky gingerbread, recipe below. Jam-packed full of spices and flavour, this is my favourite gingerbread of all. It’s definitely worth making two loaves while you’re at it, and freezing one for a rainy day.

Dark sticky gingerbread

Makes 1 loaf

You will need:

• 60g butter

• 75g treacle

• 50g golden syrup

• 1 generous teaspoon grated fresh ginger root

• 140g plain flour

• 1 teaspoon bread soda

• ½ teaspoon baking powder

• 2 teaspoons ground ginger

• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

• ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper

• 100g caster sugar

• Pinch of salt

• 1 egg, beaten

• 120ml milk

• 1 x 2lb loaf tin For the syrup, you will need:

• 75g caster sugar

• 75ml water

• 2 teaspoons finely grated root ginger, or finely chopped crystallised ginger

​1 Preheat the oven to 170C, 150 fan, 325F, Gas 3.

​2 Line the base and sides of the loaf tin with parchment paper.

​3 Melt the butter, the treacle and the golden syrup in a small saucepan with the grated fresh ginger, on a low heat, then set aside.

​4 Sift the flour, the bread soda and the baking powder into a mixing bowl and stir in the ground ginger, the ground cinnamon, the nutmeg and the black pepper, the caster sugar and the salt.

​5 In another bowl, whisk the egg, then add the milk and the melted butter mixture and pour into the dry ingredients. Mix until smooth — it will have a wet, sloppy consistency.

​6 Pour into the prepared loaf tin and bake in the oven for 50-55 minutes or until slightly risen, gently springy to the touch, and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. (Wait for at least 45 minutes before opening the oven to check whether the gingerbread has cooked, otherwise it can collapse in the centre.)

​7 While the gingerbread is cooking, make the syrup. Place the sugar, the water and the grated or chopped crystallised ginger, whichever you’re using, in a small saucepan over a medium heat and boil, uncovered, for 5 minutes until slightly thickened and syrupy.

​8 Once the gingerbread is cooked, take it out of the oven and leaving it in the tin. Pierce it all over the top with a fine skewer, pour over the syrup and leave to cool completely.

​9 When it’s cooled, take it out of the tin and serve. I like to dust this with some icing sugar and a fine grating of lemon zest.

Top tip For the topping of the dark sticky gingerbread, I love to use chopped crystallised ginger for the most intense flavour. It comes either chopped and tossed in sugar, or in a jar in the ginger syrup, called stem ginger.

Classic brioche loaf

Serves 6-8

You will need:

• 25g caster sugar

• 40ml cold water

• 12g fresh yeast or 7g dried yeast or 1 x 7g sachet fast-acting yeast

• 2 eggs, beaten

• 225g strong white flour, sifted

• ½ teaspoon salt

• 110g butter, softened and cubed

• 1 egg, beaten

• 2lb loaf tin

1 In a large bowl, mix the sugar with the water and the yeast, and let stand for 5 minutes until slightly creamy. If using fast-acting yeast, there is no need to let the mixture stand.

​2 Add the beaten eggs and mix.

​3 Place the flour and the salt into the bowl of an electric stand mixer, add in the wet ingredients and mix to a stiff dough with the paddle.

​4 When the mixture is smooth, switch to the dough hook, then put on moderate speed adding in the cubes of butter a few at a time. Continue to knead in the machine for 30 minutes. The finished dough should look silky on the outside and be coming away from the sides of the bowl.

​5 Cover the bowl with a plate or a plastic bag and set aside overnight in the fridge, where it will double in size.

​6 The following day, prepare the loaf tin by brushing it with melted butter and dusting with flour, or lining with parchment paper.

​7 Remove the dough from the fridge and knock back in the bowl by folding it in on itself. It is crucial to work quickly at this stage, otherwise the butter will begin to melt and dough will become too sticky to handle.

​8 Place the dough in the prepared loaf tin. Brush the top with a little beaten egg.

​9 Allow the brioche to prove in a warm place in the kitchen (just nice warm room temperature is ideal) for 45-60 minutes until it has doubled in size. It’s ready when you press it gently and almost all ‘spring’ has gone from the dough, it should feel light and your finger should leave a dent in the dough. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180C, 350F, Gas 4.

​10 Gently brush the loaf with the beaten egg once more. Place in the preheated oven and cook for 45-50 minutes, or until puffed and a rich golden brown. It should sound almost hollow when tapped on the base after being removed from the tin. Place on a wire rack to cool.

Rachel recommends Brioche freezes very well. Put it into the freezer once it’s shaped in the tin. As it thaws, it will have its second rising — this will take a few hours — then bake.

Chocolate swirled brioche loaf

​Serves 6-8

You will need:

• 150g dark chocolate, chopped or in drops

• 1 orange

• icing sugar (for dusting)

​1 Make the brioche dough with the ingredients and method (above), then after it has risen in the bowl overnight, roll it out, on a floured work surface, to a rectangle 20 x 30cm in size.

​2 Scatter over the dark chocolate, then finely grated zest of the 1 small orange and press into the dough before rolling into a swirl from the 20cm end and placing in a loaf tin lined with parchment paper, with the join from the roll underneath.

​3 Cover with a tea towel and set aside somewhere warm (just warm room temperature is ideal) to prove for 1 hour or until light and risen.

​4 Brush gently with a little beaten egg and bake in the preheated oven 180C, 350F, Gas 4 for 45-50 minutes, or until puffed and a rich golden brown. It should sound almost hollow when tapped on the base after being removed from the tin. Place on a wire rack to cool, then dust with icing sugar to serve.

Sweet spiced courgette loaf

Serves 6-8

You will need:

• 225g plain flour

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• ¼ teaspoon bread soda, finely sieved

• ¼ teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

• ¼ teaspoon ground cloves

• 55g butter

• 75g caster sugar

• 1 large egg

• 65ml milk

• 75ml grated courgette

• 50g chopped walnuts — optional

• A 2lb loaf tin, lined with parchment paper

1 Preheat the oven to 180C, 350F, Gas 4.

​2 Sift the flour, the baking powder and the bread soda into a wide mixing bowl. Add in the salt, the cinnamon, the nutmeg and the cloves, and mix in. Cut the butter into cubes and rub it in, then stir in the sugar.

​3 Beat the egg and whisk in the milk and the grated courgette. Mix into the flour mixture and add in the chopped walnuts, if using.

​4 Tip the mixture into the loaf tin and bake in the preheated oven for about 50-60 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.

​5 Leave to cool in the tin for about 5 minutes and then take out of the tin and leave to cool on a wire rack.

​6 Cut into slices to serve, with a little soft butter if you like.