Sticky Date Cake With Salted Caramel Sauce
Sticky Date Cake With Salted Caramel Sauce
Recipe
I need not say too much here because everyone knows and loves sticky date cake. My version is topped with salted caramel to take it to a new level of sweet, sweet comfort. Serve warmed up with a dash of liquid cream if you know what’s good.
For the cake
300g dried dates
400ml boiling water
1 ½ tsp baking soda
100g butter, melted
150g brown sugar
2 free range eggs
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp baking powder
50g ground almonds
150g plain white all-purpose flour
For the salted caramel
225g caster sugar
85g butter, softened but not melted
1/2 cup cream, warmed
1 tsp flaky sea salt
For topping
10-12 pecan halves, lightly toasted
- First, roughly chop the dates and place in a large heatproof bowl. Pour boiling water over them. Stir in the baking soda and then cover the bowl and set it aside for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 170 degrees celsius on fan bake. Grease a 20cm bundt tin very well.
- Once the date-water mixture is cooled, blend in a food processor until smooth.
- Now make the cake. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together the melted butter and sugar until smooth. Add in the eggs one at a time, beating well between each addition. Fold in the salt, baking powder, ground almonds and flour, being careful not to overmix. Finally, fold through the date puree.
- Bake for around 40 minutes or until a knife inserted comes out clean and the cake is springy to the touch.
- Allow to cool in its tin for 10 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack.
- Meanwhile, make the caramel. Pour the sugar into a large pot. Ensure your pot is perfectly clean and bone dry, or else the caramel will seize.
- Place over medium high heat and melt the sugar while stirring occasionally with a heat proof spatula. Keep an eye on the mixture the whole time as it is very easy to burn.
- As soon as the mixture turns a dark amber colour, whisk in the softened butter. Once incorporated, take the pot off the heat and whisk in the cream. Finally mix in the sea salt.
- If your mixture has any lumps, you can pass it through a heat proof sieve.
- Allow to cool to room temperature.
- Place the cake on a serving plate. Pour the cooled caramel over it, using as much as you like!
- To decorate, evenly place the pecan halves on top.
- Serve warm or at room temperature.
- Refrigerate the cake in an airtight container for up to 3 days. The caramel can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.