Ingredients

• 200g/7oz soft dried pitted dates
• roughly chopped
• 200ml/7fl oz water from a freshly boiled kettle
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 75g/2½oz unsalted butter
• softened
• plus more for greasing
• 2 tbsp black treacle
• 50g/1¾oz dark muscovado sugar
• 2 large free-range eggs
• at room temperature
• 150g/5½oz plain flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 150g/5½oz unsalted butter
• softened
• 300g/10½oz dark muscovado sugar
• 1 tbsp black treacle
• 200ml/7fl oz double cream
• plus more to serve

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/Gas 4 and lightly grease your dish.
• Put the chopped dates
• boiling water and bicarbonate of soda into a bowl
• stir and then leave for 10 minutes.
• Cream the butter and black treacle together in a stand mixer until well mixed
• then add the sugar and mix again
• beating out any lumps. Beat in an egg and keep beating – scraping down as necessary – until completely incorporated
• then do the same with the other egg. Beating more gently
• add the flour and baking powder until you have a smooth
• thick batter.
• Using a fork
• stir the soaked dates
• squishing them a bit
• then pour the dates and their liquid into the batter and beat gently to mix in.
• Pour and scrape into your prepared dish or cake tin and bake for 30–35 minutes
• or until a cake tester comes out clean.
• Meanwhile
• to make the sauce
• melt the butter
• muscovado sugar and treacle over a very low heat in a heavy-based saucepan. Once the butter’s melted
• stir gently until everything else is melted too. Now stir in the cream
• then turn up the heat and when it’s bubbling and hot
• take it off the heat.
• As soon as it’s out of the oven
• prick the cooked sponge pudding all over with a cocktail stick and pour about a quarter of the warm sauce over
• easing it to the edges with a spatula so that the sponge is entirely topped with a thick sticky glaze. Put a lid on the remaining sauce in the pan to keep it warm.
• Leave the pudding to stand for 20–30 minutes
• then take to the table
• with the rest of the sauce in a jug
• and cream to serve.