It was cool in the garden this afternoon. Yesterday, in Carmarthen, we were drenched bya sudden cloudburst.Theseare the so called 'Dog Days', the 'dies caniculares' of summer, when the sultry weather makes uslanguid. The ancients believed that Sirius, the Dog Star, was close to the sun between July 6th and the end of August, bringing us hot weather. Alas and alack!

I did whatI always do when a summer day disappoints, I baked a cake, a Ginger-bread cake.

In Florida Iasked for 'Boston Pie' andwas disappointed to find it was a sponge, expecting something puddingy.Ginger 'bread' is a misnomer, too, becausewe don't use bread to make it nowadays, but it wasn't always so.

Duringthe fifteenth century Ginger-bread became popular, especially infairs. White breadcrumbs,mixed into boiled honey and spices, was cooled and shaped intocakes.

(If I were to make this concoction, I would add two ounces of butter and anegg. I would bake it, but onrice paper, in orderto remove it from the tray.)

There is no mention of ginger in the old recipes, but Jamaicapepper is often listed as an ingredient.

This is not pepper as we've come to think of it, but allspice, a mix of cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg.

Gingerbread crossed social boundaries, popular with the hoi polloi andthe upper crust, who used gold leaf to gild it sometimes.

This is my recipe for Gingerbread.I use syrup or molasses,plus honey for the sweetening. Lard was often used instead of butter in ye olde times.

Gingerbread:

Ingredients: !0 ozs SR flour, 2 ozs Porridge Oats, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp mixed spices, 1 tsp powdered ginger, 4 ozs butter, 2 eggs, 1 tablespoon of marmalade, 4 ozs honey, 4 ozs of either molasses or syrup. Finely sliced crystallised ginger.

Method. Melt honey, syrup (or molasses)and marmalade. Cool a little, then add the butter. Mix well before adding the beaten eggs. Mix again. Sprinkle in the spices, then fold the oats and the flour into the mixture.

Have ready a large greased loaf tin. (You could line it with parchment). Pour the mixture into the tin. The oven should not be too hot (whatever temperature you use to bake a big fruit cake.) The top is liable to scorch because of the honey and syrup, sobest tocover it with foil for the first twenty minutes, before removing it to finish.

The gingerbread needs about an hour and a quarter to bake. Test with a skewer to see if it's ready. (The skewer should be drywhenremoved from the mixture.)

I squeezeorange juice into icing sugar to make a glaze. Chopped crystallised ginger on the icing adds a tangy touch.This recipe keeps well in an airtight tinfor at least a week, but eat it and enjoy it right away, then you can make another one.