Ingredients:
- 175g dates chopped
- 175ml hot water
- 60g softened butter
- 60g light muscovado sugar
- 90g butter, softened
- 150g light muscovado sugar
- 2 eggs beaten
- 175g good quality, finely milled gluten free flour (Angélique in Quebec, King Arthur in USA)
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- 2 medium apples, sharpish eating apples
Method:
Stone and chop dates. Pour over hot water and leave to soak for a couple of hours.
Set oven at 350F or 325F if fan assisted. (Tru conv. 325)
Butter the base of a round 8” springform non stick baking tin.
Cream 60g quantities of butter and sugar and spread over base of tin.
Peel, core and slice the apples, arranging the slices over the butter and sugar in the base of the tin.
Whisk baking powder into flour.
Put butter, eggs, flour and baking powder into large bowl and mix until well blended.
Reheat date and water mixture and pour into the flour mixture, stirring to blend.
Pour into tin over apple mixture and bake for about 45 minutes until well risen, browned on top and springy to the touch. Juices may bubble up the edges a bit. Probably worth checking the centre of the sponge with a thin skewer or cocktail stick as the first time I made this (in a 7” square tin) the centre was not quite cooked.
While cake is baking, make butterscotch sauce using following recipe.
Allow baked cake to stand for a few minutes then invert on a suitable plate, releasing spring ring and base. Pour over some butterscotch sauce, reserving the rest for serving. Vanilla ice cream is also good with it.
Butterscotch Sauce:
Adapted from Michael Smith’s recipe, stated to be foolproof
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup white sugar
- 4oz unsalted butter cut into pieces
- 1 cup 35% cream (heavy cream in USA)
- splash vanilla essence
Pour water into high sided saucepan. Gently sprinkle in sugar, taking care to avoid the edges of the pan. Begin heating over high heat but DO NOT stir. Allow sugar to dissolve to form simple syrup. As the heat increases the water will gradually evaporate and leave behind a pure melted sugar syrup which boils at a rolling boil. Once syrup starts to turn pale gold, gently swirl the pan to keep the colour even.
When it has reached a deep golden brown (watch CAREFULLY as becomes bitter very quickly) add butter pieces and whisk until sauce is smooth. Add cream and vanilla, whisking again until smooth. Cool somewhat before pouring into a jar. Will keep in fridge up to a month.
I think it would be possible to start with a smaller volume of water