Ingredients for cake
450g Medjool dates (de-stoned)
4 x Earl Grey tea bags
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground nutmeg
170g butter
170g golden caster sugar
170g muscavado sugar
4 eggs
340g self raising flour
Ingredients for toffee sauce
250g butter
125g golden caster sugar
125g muscavado sugar
50ml Amaretto liqueur
300ml double cream
Method
To make the cake:
- Add 350ml boiling water to the 4 Earl Grey tea bags and steep for 3½ minutes.
- Take the stones out of the dates and place the dates in a blender with cinnamon and nutmeg.
- Remove tea bags and pour tea over dates in blender.
- Leave dates to soak in tea for 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, cream together the butter, golden caster sugar and muscavado sugar in a bowl.
- Add the eggs one at a time and mix into creamed butter and sugar.
- Fold in the flour until totally mixed together.
- Blend the tea and dates until smooth and then stir into the cake mixture until totally mixed together.
- Grease and flour a 24-26cm funnelled cake tin (or Angel Cake pan).
- Pour cake mixture evenly into the pan and bake in centre of oven on 180 degrees for 45 minutes (or until mixture is cooked through – test with a knitting needle – if the needle comes out of the cake clean then it’s cooked. If not, then leave it longer until it’s cooked through – keep checking to make sure you don’t overcook it!).
Make the toffee sauce:
- Melt the butter in a pan over a low heat.
- Add both the golden caster sugar and the muscavado sugar until the sugars are dissolved.
- Add the Amaretto liqueur and boil hard until the sauce thickens.
- Turn heat down and add the cream and stir until blended.
When the cake is cooked, turn it out, upside down on a plate.
Using a pastry brush, paint the whole cake with some of the toffee sauce.
Pour some of the sauce into the whole in the centre of the cake and save the rest of the sauce in a jug for pouring over the cake when serving. (You can dust the cake with icing sugar if you’d like to).
Serve with vanilla or butterscotch ice cream.
