Hot tea is the secret to adding depth of flavour to this easy, yet delicious cake recipe. Serve as a dinner party pud or for an afternoon pick me up with a cup of tea.
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Yields:
10 serving(s)
Prep Time:
30 mins
Cook Time:
1 hr 5 mins
Total Time:
1 hr 35 mins
Cal/Serv:
451
Ingredients
For the cake
125g
butter, softened, plus extra to grease
250g
self-raising flour
200g
dates, stoned and finely chopped
250ml
hot tea, freshly brewed
200g
light brown muscovado sugar
2Tbsp.
golden syrup
3
medium eggs
1tsp.
bicarbonate of soda
For the icing
100ml
double cream
75g
light brown muscovado sugar
25g
butter
1Tbsp.
golden syrup
Fudge chunks, optional, to decorate
Directions
Step 1
Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C fan) mark 4. Grease a deep round 20.5cm cake tin and dust with flour (tap out excess). Put dates into a bowl, pour over hot tea and soak for 10min.
Step 2
Put butter and sugar into a large bowl and beat together using a handheld electric whisk until light and fluffy, about 5min. Whisk in the golden syrup, followed by eggs, soda, flour and date mixture (it may look a little curdled, but don't worry). Pour mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 55min or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool completely in the tin.
Step 3
Meanwhile, make the toffee icing. Put all ingredients except the fudge chunks into a pan. Heat gently until melted and smooth, then turn up heat slightly and simmer gently for 7min until thickened. Pour into a bowl, lay a piece of baking parchment on the surface to stop a skin forming and leave to cool completely.
Step 4
Remove cooled cake from tin and transfer to a cake plate or stand. Spread icing over top of cake, scatter over fudge chunks, if using, and serve in slices.
To store: Keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
An experienced and highly skilled team of food writers, stylists and digital content producers, the Good Housekeeping Cookery Team is a close-knit squad of food obsessives. Cookery Editor Emma Franklin is our resident chilli obsessive and barbecue expert, who spends an inordinate amount of time on holidays poking round the local supermarkets seeking out new and exciting foods. Senior Cookery Writer Alice Shields is a former pastry chef and baking fanatic who loves making bread and would have peanut butter with everything if she could. Her favourite carb is pasta, and our vibrant green spaghetti is her weeknight go-to. Lover of all things savoury, Senior Cookery Writer Grace Evans can be found eating crispy corn and nocellara olives at every opportunity, and will take the cheeseboard over dessert any time (though she cannot resist a slice of tres leches cake). With a wealth of professional kitchen know-how, culinary training and years of experience between them, they are all dedicated to ensuring every Good Housekeeping recipe is the best it can be, so you can trust they’ll work (and if they don’t – we’ll have the answer for why*) every time (*90% of the time the answer is: “buy an separate oven thermometer”!).
