Date loaf with butterscotch and cream

This moist loaf cake is enriched with walnuts and dates. Serve with a rich caramel butterscotch sauce and a dollop of double cream.

Date loaf with butterscotch and cream Credit: Kitti Gould

• serves

  6

• prep

  10 minutes

• cook

  1:15 hour

• difficulty

  Easy

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Ingredients

• 2 cups (300 g) self-raising flour
• 2 tbsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground mixed spice
• 375 ml milk
• 165 g brown sugar
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 150 g butter
• 85 g molasses
• 165 g golden syrup
• 60 g date syrup
• 1 egg
• 90 g chopped walnuts
• 90 g dates

Butterscotch sauce

• 250 g caster sugar
• 125 g butter
• 1 cup (250 ml) thickened cream
• double cream, to serve

Resting time: 2 hours

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, sift the self-raising flour, ground ginger, cinnamon and mixed spice.
2. Heat the milk and brown sugar in a large, heavy-based saucepan over medium heat, stirring frequently. As soon as it's at scalding point, 82˚C, remove from the heat and add the bicarbonate of soda: watch out, it will fizz up a little. Allow to cool for 10 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, in a separate medium saucepan, combine the butter, molasses, golden syrup and date syrup over medium heat. Bring to a light simmer, until the ingredients have melted and formed a rich syrup.
4. Gradually whisk this mixture into the spiced flour; it will be quite firm to start with but once about half of it is in it will be a bit lighter on the whisk.
5. Gradually whisk in the milk mixture, until smooth. If it's not smooth, pass the mixture through a fine mesh sieve.
6. Whisk through the egg and fold in the walnuts and dates. Allow the cake batter to rest at room temperature for 2 hours before baking.
7. When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 160˚C (140˚C fan-forced). Lightly grease and line the base and 2 long sides of a straight sided loaf tin (12.5 cm x 18 cm x 7.5 cm deep) with baking paper. Give the cake batter a good stir and pour it into the prepared tin.
8. Bake for 1 – 1 ¼ hours, until firm to the touch.
9. For the butterscotch sauce, in a medium saucepan, cook the caster sugar to a caramel, then whisk through the butter and cream until melted and stir until smooth.
10. To serve, slice the date loaf and serve with the butterscotch sauce and double cream.

Photography by Kitti Gould.

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Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.

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