Sticky Date Toffee Cake

This is the first time I have made a sticky toffee cake and am waiting for an excuse to try it again!! Honestly, I did not think this cake would taste so good. Till now, I had serious reservations about trying out this recipe, firstly, knowing the strong preference for chocolate in our family and secondly, I was somehow under the impression that anything made with dates would be cloyingly sweet and that the addition of dates would result in a heavy textured cake. How wrong I was on both the accounts!! The cake was light, super moist, rich and gooey and topped with the delicious toffee sauce, it was perfectly divine. So much so, that you just felt like reaching for one piece after another making it quite difficult to keep your hands off it. And to my utter surprise and utmost delight, it was a big hit with hubby and kids.
So, go ahead and you too indulge yourself with this sweet heaven on a plate!!

Ingredients

4 eggs

400 gm seedless dates

2 cups black tea

2 tsp honey

2 tsp vanilla essence

200 gms plain flour

100 gms wheat flour

1 tsp salt

2 tsp mixed spice

1 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

100 gms butter melted

150 gms brown sugar

For the Sticky Toffee Sauce:

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup cream

2 Tbsp butter


Method
Preheat oven to 180C. 

Finely chop the dates. (This will prevent them from sinking to the bottom of the pan while baking.)
In a saucepan, place the dates with the tea and bring to a boil. Turn the heat down and simmer for another 5 minutes till the dates are soft and mushy. 

Remove from heat and add the baking soda. The mixture will foam a bit. Mix well and set aside to cool.

Whisk the eggs and sugar in a large bowl till almost double in size.

Gradually whisk in the melted butter. Fold in the dates mixture, honey and the vanilla essence.

Sift all the dry ingredients over the top of the wet and gently fold together till fully incorporated.

Pour into the prepared tin. 
Bake in a preheated oven for 40-45 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.                                                                                                       

 If the cake has crowned cut off the top to level it. 

To make the Toffee sauce, place all the ingredients into a saucepan and bring to a boil. Stir and simmer gently for 5-6 minutes until the sauce thickens. You can also double the quantity and keep the leftover sauce in the fridge. 

Once the cake is done, when its still warm, make holes all over the cake with a skewer and drizzle a generous amount of the toffee sauce  over the cake. (The toffee sauce is an absolute must with the cake.)

Serve warm or chilled, either way this cake is a winner!!