SIR - I was brought up with Moggy and this is my great-grandma's recipe. It must be more than 100 years old and is delicious with custard or cream.

1/2 lb SR flour; 1/2 teaspoon salt; 2 teaspoons ginger; 4oz brown sugar; 3 tablespoons golden syrup; 1 egg beaten with 1/4 pint milk; 2oz marg or butter.

Melt sugar, syrup and marg in pan. Add to dry ingredients. Add egg and milk. Beat well.

Place in lined greased tin and cook at gas mark three on middle shelf for one hour.

Mrs E Cresswell, Eastbury Avenue, Horton Bank Top, Bradford

  • SIR - Referring to moggy' or moggie', Joan Poulson, in her book Old Yorkshire Recipes, says: "This recipe can be found in many old recipe books and perhaps the name is taken from the Old Norse language, where a heap of corn was known as Mugi.

"The word can also be traced back through Early English where corn was referred to as Muge and later as Muga."

I prefer a recipe published many years ago in the T&A, although I adapted it slightly. It has a touch of ginger and uses wholemeal flour to make a mild and sticky cake. But be warned, it is naturally a bit sad in the middle.

12 oz wholemeal flour; pinch of salt; 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda; 2 tsp baking powder; 1 tsp ground ginger; 6 oz soft brown sugar; 6 oz (2 heaped tbsp) golden syrup; 6 oz margarine; pint milk.

Mix the flour, salt, bicarbonate, baking powder and ginger in a large bowl.

Melt the brown sugar, syrup, margarine and milk in a saucepan, but do not heat.

Add the melted ingredients to the flour mixture and blend together.

Pour into a greased and floured roasting tin (approx 8"x12"), with greaseproof paper on the bottom.

Bake slowly on regulo 3 for about an hour until firm and brown.

Yanina Sheeran, Sunny Bank, Shipley