What you’ll need
1 cup dates, pitted
½ cup ginger, crystallised
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 ½ cups water, boiling
80g butter, room temperature
¾ cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla paste
1 ½ cups The Healthy Baker Plain Flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ginger, ground
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
For caramel sauce
400g caster sugar
170g butter, unsalted, cubed
1 cup (250ml) pouring cream
1 pod vanilla bean seeds
1 teaspoon sea salt
Preheat oven to 160C
Grease and line a 25cm round cake tin.
Combine dates, ginger and baking soda in a food processor bowl and pour over the boiling water. Set aside for a few minutes.
Add butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla paste to the food processor and whizz everything together for a few seconds.
Now add the flour, baking powder and spices and whizz again to a smooth batter.
Pour into a prepared cake tin and smooth over the top. Bake for 45 minutes or until the centre of the cake feels springy and it is just starting to pull away from the sides.
To make sauce:
Place sugar in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring often, until the sugar melts into a smooth caramel (watch carefully towards the end because it can go from perfectly golden to burnt very quickly)
Add butter and whisk until it has melted into a smooth sauce.
Remove from heat and whisk in the cream, vanilla and salt. Return to heat and bring to boil. Simmer for another 5 minutes, stirring often.
Sauce can be stored in the fridge tightly sealed for up to a month.
