Sticky Date Cake Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour two 9-inch-round cake pans or 20 muffin tins.
• Place the dates in large saucepan with 3 1/2 cups cold water. Bring to boil, stirring a little to break up the dates. Then leave to simmer for 1 minute before removing from the heat. Stir in the baking soda (which will cause the mixture to bubble up).
• Cream the butter and sugar together in a food mixer until pale and creamy. Add the eggs, one at a time, occasionally scraping down mixing bowl. Add the vanilla extract and then the flour and salt and mix briefly to give a lumpy dough.
• Next, add the warm date mixture in two batches. Scrape down the sides of bowl in between mixing. The dough will now be quite watery but don't worry! Finally add the baking powder (this will bubble up also).
• Pour the batter evenly into the two pans or muffin tins. Bake for about 30 to 40 minutes for cake pans and about 20 minutes for muffin tins. Test if they are cooked with a small knife or toothpick, it should come out clean when cakes are done.
• Meanwhile, to make the sauce, combine the butter, brown sugar, heavy cream and vanilla extract in a medium saucepan. Bring to boil and then reduce to simmer gently for a minute or two until thickened and well blended.
• When the cakes are done, poke little holes all over with toothpick, this will enable the sauce to be absorbed more easily. Pour the caramel sauce over cakes while both are still warm and leave to soak for about 10 minutes. Turn the cakes out upside-down onto serving plates (the bottom is the most sticky bit!).
• Serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.

Steps:

• Make the cake: Heat oven to 325 degrees and butter an 8-inch square or 9-inch round cake pan.
• In a small pot, combine dates, lemon juice and 3/4 cup/180 milliliters water. Bring mixture to a boil, then simmer gently until dates soften and start to fall apart, about 6 minutes. Add currants to the pot and set aside to cool completely.
• While date mixture cools, stir together whole-wheat flour, all-purpose flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cardamom, ginger and salt.
• Using an electric mixer, beat butter and brown sugar together on medium speed until light and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Mix in vanilla and cooled date mixture, followed by flour mixture.
• Scrape the batter into the prepared pan, spreading evenly and smoothing the surface. Bake for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean with just a few crumbs clinging to it.
• Meanwhile, make the sticky toffee: In a small pot (you can use the same one you used for the dates), combine agave, brown sugar and salt. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, whisking to dissolve sugar. Once sugar dissolves and bubbles, remove from heat and swirl in butter.
• When the cake comes out of the oven, spoon half the sticky toffee over it and let cool in the pan on a wire rack. (It will soak into the cake.)
• When the cake has cooled completely and the remaining sticky toffee has thickened, spread it over the cake with an offset spatula. Sprinkle with fleur de sel and serve. Store, loosely wrapped, at room temperature for up to 2 days.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 170C/340F/gas 3. Grease and line 20cm/8inch cake tin
• Place the raisins, dates, sultanas,and currents into a pan together with the butter, water and condensed milk. Slowly bring to the boil, stirring frequently to prevent the mixture from burning. Reduce the heat and simmer for 3-4 minutes
• Transfer the mixture to a heatproof bowl and set aside to cool
• Mix together the wholemeal flour, plain flour, salt and bicarbonate of soda in a separate bowl
• When the fruit mixture has cooled, fold it into the flour along with the marmalade until smooth and well combined. Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin
• Cover the tin with a double layer of baking parchmonet, then bake the cake in the oven for 13/4 hour, or until the cake is springy to touch and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean
• To serve, allow the cake to coll for 10 minutes in the tin before turning out onto a cooling rack

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease an 8-inch square baking dish.
• In a small bowl combine the dates and baking soda. Pour enough boiling water over the dates to just cover them.
• Cream 1/3 cup of butter with the white sugar until light. Beat in the eggs and mix well to combine.
• Add the flour and date mixture (including water) to the egg mixture and fold to combine. Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish.
• Bake in the preheated oven until a tester comes out clean, 30 to 40 minutes. Let cool slightly and prepare the sauce.
• To Make Caramel Sauce: In a small saucepan combine the brown sugar, 1/3 cup butter, and evaporated milk. Cook over medium heat and bring to boil. Turn heat down and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla. Pour the sauce over individual servings of warm cake.