Oh boy, this is dangerous. I’ve been wanting to make it for so long bit didn’t want to have anything so ridiculous at home just for the 2 of us, so I had to wait for friends to come over for dinner.
Soft, fluffy, warm, date cake, ice cream melting over the top drizzled with a salted butter scotch, what a decadent dessert!
The cake by itself is really really good, you can just it it like that if you want. I saved 6 slices in the freezer for when we have a sweet tooth. But together with the cold ice cream and the warm sauce…. Like I said, dangerous.
Recipe inspired by @recipe_tin
Sticky Date Toffee Pudding with Salted Butterscotch Sauce
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
Loading...Ingredients
- Cake:
- 280g pitted dates
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 cup boiling water
- 1/4 cup (light or dark) brown sugar
- 80g unsalted butter, softened
- 2 eggs, at room temperature
- 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- Butterscotch Sauce:
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 70g unsalted butter
- 1/4 tsp fine sea salt (more to taste)
- To serve
- Vanille ice cream or whipped cream
Instructions
Preheat oven to 180°C.
Line a cake pan (see note 1) with baking paper with overhang. Tip: lightly grease the tin with butter first, this will help the paper to stick to the sides.
The dates
Place the dates in a heatproof bowl, sprinkle over baking soda and pour over boiling water. Let stand for10 minutes, then mash well with a fork until it resembles sloppy porridge. The finer you mash the darker the cake will become.
The cake
Place butter and sugar in a bowl and beat until combined and smooth, ± 3 minutes
Add the eggs and mix well until combined.
Add flour and sprinkle over the baking powder, mix until well combined.
Add the dates and mix quickly until everything is well incorporated into the batter.
Pour the batter into the cake pan and give it a little wiggle to even it out. Bake for 35 minutes until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. (In the meantime make the butterscotch sauce, see below)
Remove the cake from the oven and while still hot, poke ± 50 holes all over the surface using a skewer. Pour over 1/2 cup of the Butterscotch Sauce over the cake and leave to soak for 10 minutes.
Use overhang to lift cake out. Cut, serve warm with remaining warm sauce and ice cream or whipped cream.
Butterscotch sauce
Add all the ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat. Once the butter is melted, stir and bring to a light simmer. Taste and add more salt to your liking.
Let bubble away for 2 minutes, stirring once, then remove from heat. Serve warm.
Notes
- I used a rectangular cake pan of 12 x 30 cm, but a square one of 20 x 20 will work too. If making individual puddings, grease these well with butter and fill until 2/3 of the height, this will give enough room for the cakes to rise.
- This is a great cake to make ahead for a dinner party. To reheat the butter scotch soaked cake cover it well with aluminium foil so it's well sealed and bake in a preheated oven (180°C for 5 minutes). Reheat the sauce as well before serving.
- To freeze let the cake cool and wrap individual portions well in plastic wrap and save these slices in a sealed tupperwear or sealable bag. They will keep well up to 2 months in the freezer. I don't recommend freezing the sauce though, best to make this again when you need it.
