Rum and Date Cake with Caramel Sauce

I won't tell you how much caramel sauce I licked of spoons, pans and fingers... but it was a lot. Happy days.

Rum and Date Cake with Caramel Sauce

adapted from Donna Hay

For the Cake:

100g (3/4 cups) mejool dates, roughly chopped

70g (1/2 cup) prunes, roughly chopped

90ml (1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons) boiling water

60ml (1/4 cup) rum

Pinch of salt

1 scant teaspoon baking soda, sifted

110g (3/4 cup) self-raising flour, sifted

100g (1/2 cup) brown sugar

115g unsalted butter, melted

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 eggs

For the Caramel Sauce:

50g unsalted butter

Pinch of salt

115g (1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons) brown sugar

130g (1/4 cup) golden syrup

125ml (1/2 cup) pouring cream

30ml (2 tablespoons) rum

Make the Cake:

Preheat the oven to 160C. Grease a 1 litre bundt pan with cooking oil spray. Set aside.

Place the dates and prunes in a blender. Pour in the boiling water and baking soda. Leave for 10 minutes, then blitz to a puree.

Mix the flour and sugar together in a bowl to combine. Add the butter, vanilla, eggs and date mixture and mix well. Spoon into the prepared bundt pan and bak for 30 - 35 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool for 10 minutes in the pan, before turning out to a wire rack to cool.

Make the Caramel Sauce:

Put the butter, salt, sugar, golden syrup, cream and rum into a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Swirl the pan until the sugar dissolves, then stop swirling and bring to the boil. Cook for a further 8 - 10 minutes until thickened. Allow the sauce to cool for 10 minutes before pouring over the cake to serve.