Stem ginger is one of those magical kitchen ingredients that doesn’t cost the earth and sits happily in the cupboard or fridge for months until needed. I love almost anything with stem ginger in it, but most of all I love ginger cake. I remember a German ginger and apple cake I used to make as a kid, which was just the right side of stodgy. This week I have made a new version, with apples as a foil for the deeply flavoured crumb. With the rest of the jar, I whipped up a fool and added some rhubarb for sharpness and colour, but it’s delicious without it, too.

Easy apple and double ginger cake

An easy cake with a double hit of ginger. This way of using the apple to top the cake is inspired by the brilliant cook and writer Anja Dunk. If you are a ginger-lover like me, you could add another couple of balls of stem ginger.

Easy apple and double ginger cake. Photograph: Matt Russell/The Guardian

Prep 15 min

Cook 50 min

Makes 1 cake to serve 8

200g plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

¼ tsp fine sea salt

2 tsp ground ginger

200g butter, plus extra for greasing

150g dark brown soft sugar

3 balls of stem ginger (75g), finely chopped, plus syrup from the jar for brushing and drizzling

3 large eggs

5-6 small eating apples

1 tbsp demerara sugar, for sprinkling

Grease and line a 23cm springform baking tin. Heat the oven to 180C (160C fan)/350F/gas 4. Put the dry ingredients, except the sugar and one teaspoon of the ground ginger, into a bowl, whisk to combine and set aside.

Melt the butter in a pan, then whisk in the sugar and stem ginger. Leave to cool slightly, then beat in the eggs one by one, until emulsified. Fold through the dry ingredients and pour into the cake tin.

Peel, core and halve the apples, then very thinly slice about two thirds of the way down each half, leaving the last third uncut to hold the apple together. Arrange the apples cut side up on top of the batter, brush with the syrup, then sprinkle over the demerara sugar and the remaining teaspoon of ground ginger.

Bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 45-50 minutes, until golden and cooked through – test the thickest part of the cake with a skewer: if it doesn’t come out clean, put the cake back in for another five minutes.

Remove the cake from the oven and pour over two tablespoons of the syrup from the jar. Cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then remove from the tin and serve. This is best eaten on the day, but will keep well for three days wrapped in clingfilm or kept in a sealed container.

Stem ginger fool with lemon and rhubarb

This is so light, pillowy and spiked with ginger, I find it hard to think of a dessert I’d rather eat. You can skip the rhubarb, if you prefer, but I think it adds welcome sharpness and colour. As the seasons change, squashed berries would work well in its place.

Anna Jones Stem ginger fool with lemon and rhubarb.

Prep 15 min

Cook 25 min

Serves 4

For the rhubarb

2 stems forced rhubarb, finely sliced

1 heaped tbsp caster sugar

For the fool

300ml double cream

100ml thick Greek yoghurt

6 balls stem ginger, 4 finely chopped, 2 finely sliced, plus 1 tbsp of syrup from the jar

Zest of ½ lemon

In a pan, fry the rhubarb and sugar for two minutes, until the rhubarb juices turn the sugar into a pink syrup but the rhubarb still holds its crunch. Set aside to cool in the pan for 20 minutes.

Whip the cream a little shy of soft peaks, then fold in the yoghurt. Add the finely chopped ginger, and stir it through with the ginger syrup and lemon zest.

When it has cooled, stir half the rhubarb into the cream.

Top the dessert with the finely sliced ginger and the rest of the rhubarb.