A dark, damp date sponge made with gluten-free flour, drowned in a salted toffee sauce and finished under the grill so the top goes lacquered.
Prep
25 mins
Cook
40 mins
Servings
8
Per serving
£0.94
Difficulty
easy
Dates are doing more than sweetening here — blitzed with bicarbonate of soda and boiling water they collapse into a puree that keeps the sponge moist for days, which is exactly what gluten-free baking needs. The sauce is made twice over: once to soak into the hot sponge, once to pour at the table.
Put the chopped dates in a bowl with the bicarbonate of soda, pour over 250ml of boiling water and leave for 15 minutes. Blitz to a rough puree with a stick blender, or mash hard with a fork.
The bicarbonate breaks the dates down and darkens them. The mixture will foam and smell odd for a minute — that is correct.
Beat the softened unsalted butter with the dark brown sugar until it lightens, then beat in the eggs one at a time, followed by the treacle and vanilla. Fold in the gluten-free self-raising flour and baking powder, then the warm date puree and the milk. The batter will be very loose. Stir in the raisins if using.
A slack batter is what you want. Gluten-free sponges dry out fast, and this one bakes with enough moisture to stay sticky.
Pour into a buttered 20cm square tin and bake at 160C fan for 35-40 minutes, until risen and just firm in the centre. A skewer should come out with a few damp crumbs, not clean.
While it bakes, make the sauce: melt the salted butter with the light brown sugar in a heavy pan over a medium heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Let it bubble for 2 minutes, then pour in the cream and the salt flakes and simmer for 3-4 minutes until smooth and glossy.
Add the cream off the heat if you are nervous — it will spit as it hits the hot sugar.
Prick the hot sponge all over with a skewer and pour a third of the sauce over it. Let it soak in for 10 minutes, then, if you like, flash the whole tin under a hot grill for 90 seconds until the top blisters and darkens.
Watch it constantly under the grill. Sugar goes from lacquered to burnt in about ten seconds.
Cut into squares and serve hot with the remaining warm sauce and cold pouring cream or vanilla ice cream. It reheats well in a low oven, covered, and is arguably better on day two.