Sticky Toffee Date Cake with Caramel Sauce
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Sticky Toffee Date Cake with Brown Sugar Caramel Sauce is a traditional British cake. Warm sticky date cake is saturated with luscious caramel sauce and served with ice cream. It’s a rich, comforting dessert and one of the best cakes you’ll ever eat.
This cake is moist and not overly sweet, but the addition of rich and luscious caramel poured over the hot cake makes this amazing!
Sticky Toffee Date Cake
I was talking to a friend recently when he inquired about Call Me PMc. I was eager to talk about it (of course!). He asked what I’d been cooking and sharing lately. My friend jumped in and answered “desserts! That’s all she makes”. It isn’t the only thing I make, and I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve made and shared a lot of desserts during the Thanksgiving and Christmas season. In fact, this is no secret with any of my readers, I love desserts! I have an insatiable sweet tooth. I love to eat desserts and I love to bake desserts!
Here’s the thing, I enjoy running. I enjoy fruit and salads. Basically, I eat well except for desserts. Now, I feel like if I get a good run in, I can enjoy a small dessert. If I have a salad for lunch, I can have a little dessert for a snack. That should work, right? It makes perfect logic to me. I save calories in one place so I can enjoy them in other things.
Here’s what you’ll need
The full recipe with ingredient amounts and instructions is at the bottom of this post. You can save a tree and the recipe to your personal and private recipe box here on Call Me PMc. This way, you’ll never misplace it.
For the cake
- Water
- Dates
- Baking Soda
- Butter
- Sugar
- Eggs
- All-purpose flour
- Baking powder
For the caramel sauce (caramel sauce recipe here)
- Butter
- Brown sugar
- Whipping cream
I updated this post from an earlier version dated January 24, 2014. I made new photos and simplified the recipe instructions.
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Sticky Date Cake
For instance, I like to splurge on this Sticky Toffee Cake. This cake is dense and not very sweet without the Caramel Sauce. In fact, it’s almost like bread. After I made it, I thought I had made a bad decision on this cake. But, magic happened once I poured the Caramel Sauce over the hot cake. Actually, it took all the willpower I could muster to not drink the Caramel Sauce all by itself!
It’s that good by itself. It’s even better saturating the cake!
Adding a scoop of whipped cream or vanilla ice cream really brings all the flavors together harmoniously.
This Sticky Toffee Cake is one of those cakes that gets better the longer it sits. I find that to be true often in cakes that contain fruit.
It’ll stay good stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks, but it won’t last that long. To serve it after it has cooled, I place each slice in the microwave for 20 to 30 seconds to warm it. I then put the scoop of whipped cream on top and maybe an extra drizzle of warmed Caramel Sauce.
The special ingredient that makes this cake so moist
Dates! Yes, now, don’t think that’s ‘yucky’! I chopped them really small. You couldn’t really tell they were in the cake, but they added a nice, rich flavor. I didn’t leave big chunks of dates.
You’ll want to make these recipes too
Sticky Toffee Date Cake
Ingredients
- 2 cup boiling water
- 8 oz dried dates pitted and chopped
- 1/2 cup butter softened
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs room temperature
- 3 and 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
Instructions
- Soak the dates in the hot water for 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9×13 inch cake pan with non-stick spray.
- Combine flour and baking powder.
- Beat butter and sugar until white and fluffy with an electric mixer. Add eggs and beat.
- Add dates and liquid and mix until combined.
- Add flour/baking powder mixture and mix until just combined.
- Pour batter into greased pan and bake 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Make caramel sauce.
- When cake comes out of oven, poke holes in it using a skewer. Pour 1/3 of sauce over cake and allow caramel to soak in. Allow to cool 5 minutes and pour another 1 cup of sauce over cake.
- Reserve remaining caramel sauce to serve with cake.
- Cake is great warm with an extra drizzle of caramel sauce and whipped cream.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information given is an automatic calculation and can vary based on the exact products you use and changes you make to the recipe. If these numbers are important to you, I recommend calculating them yourself.
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what an amazing cake with healthy dates
I’m the exact same way, Paula! I love salads, fruits, running….and desserts!! This dessert looks amazing with that delicious sauce of yours. Thanks so much for sharing at Saturday Night Fever! I am pinning this!!
Thank you, Cathy.
This cake is gorgeous Paula! It looks so soft and fluffy! Dates are really cool– you can do so much with them!
Tell your husband that we are all binge bakers lol. I swear all I’ve made for 2 weeks is sweet stuff and then it will be all savory again for awhile. My posts are balanced. My kitchen is not. Ha! Awesome recipe!
I wouldn’t have guessed dates! Still sounds delicious. Thanks for linking to the In and Out of the Kitchen Link Party. Hope to see you next time.
This cake looks incredible Paula! The caramel sauce looks so mouthwatering! I have just recently been using dates too and I love that you used dates in here – great recipe 🙂
Dates are so fun to use and they add a great sweetness to any dish. Love this recipe Paula, especially the caramel sauce!
Here dates are very popular and this is definitely a cake for us 🙂
I’m saving the recipe !!
Well, of course that is great logic, Paula! It’s like how *if* I go to a pilates class… I reward myself by stopping by to grab a PB shake. When everyone of my friends are swearing off sweets/sugar… they are up in night to think I am going to join them on that craziness! I can’t wait to try this one. See, I know you and I would just be swapping treats through the back door every day if we were neighbors! xo
We would so totally be baking together and swapping treats! I can tell we’re a lot alike!! I laughed when you posted the picture last week about just taking a drive for no reason at all, that is one of my most favorite things to do!!
I totally share your dessert philosophy. I have always wanted to try sticky toffee pudding, and now I want to even more. It looks sinful!
I was concerned but I really loved it. REally that caramel would make anything great!
Paula, oh my, this cake looks fantastic and you totally had me at caramel! Of pinning and buffering! Hope you have a happy Saturday!
Thank you, Cindy.