A gluten-free cake using dried dates and dark spices to give it the most fantastic flavour – so nourishing just a small slice will leave you happy and satisfied! This cake is a healthy variation on the British classic of sticky toffee pudding – a moist delicious sponge with the crunch of hazelnuts and a sweet smooth caramel sauce.

Method

1. Heat oven to 170c.
2. Add the dates to a bowl with the boiling water and spices
3.  In a separate bowl add the sugar, eggs, and olive oil and blend/beat. (You can use a blender, mixer or food processor to do this)
4.  Place the ground almonds, bicarbonate of soda and salt in with the egg mixture and beat for a couple of minutes until combined. Then add the date mixture in, and beat until combined.
5. Once the entire mixture is combined stir in your chopped hazelnuts.
6. Make sure your pudding moulds are well greased, then fill with the batter, leaving at least 1cm gap at the top for them to rise (this is really important, they really do rise up!)
7. Cook for about 13 minutes until a knife can be inserted and comes our dry.
8. Drizzle over toffee sauce and use a knife to smooth, then sprinkle over chopped dates to decorate.

N.B You can make this cake in any size or shape you like, it will just need to be cooked for a different amount of time. The general rule is if you can insert a knife in and it comes out clean then it’s done!

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