(Serves 6)

What you’ll need:

• 180g of dates, pitted and chopped
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1 cup of boiling water
• 80g of butter, plus extra to grease
• 150g of brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 180g of self raising our, sifted

Toffee Sauce:

• 150g of brown sugar
• 200ml of cream
• 80g of butter

What to do:

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease an 18cm cake tin or 6 individual ramekin bowls. Put the dates and baking soda in a heatproof bowl and then pour over the boiling water. Stir and then let it stand for 15 minutes.

2. Beat the butter and sugar until creamy and then add the eggs one at a time, beating until the mixture is light and fluffy. Gently fold in the our and then stir in the date mixture.

3. Pour into the prepared cake tin or ramekin bowls, and bake for 30-40 minutes until cooked through. (You can test this by sticking a skewer into the middle of the cake; if it comes out clean then the cake is ready.)

4. While the cake is baking you can make the toffee sauce. Combine all the ingredients for the sauce and while stirring bring them to the boil. Then let the sauce simmer for about 5 minutes. Pour the hot sauce over the cake when ready.

(Alternatively, when the cake is ready, you can pour over some of the sauce, coating the top lightly, and return it to the oven for another 3 minutes. This will make the pudding stickier. You can pour additional sauce over the cake before serving.)

Serve with fresh cream or vanilla ice cream.