Toffee Pudding Cake

If I'm in a hurry to catch up on recipes, why not share this cake so soon after this? Truthfully, I haven't seen cake around here in a while, so I don't think anyone will mind. We all need a nice big bundt cake to cut sliver after sliver and enjoy with tea, for breakfast, after dinner or just because. This toffee pudding cake is the perfect, matches-any-occasion cake. It isn't as intense as chocolate, which is a good thing even if you're of the chocolate-trumps-all type.
A slice warmed up with the toffee sauce (and a sprinkling of salt is essential) is nothing short of extraordinary. The depth from the caramel with the soft crumb of the cake makes it irresistible. Pencil it into your next baking session. Promise?

I should not that I've made the cake with coconut oil and it was perfect as well. So if you're going dairy-free, opt for coconut oil and skip the toffee sauce though I can't imagine you'd want to do that.

In other news, make sure you follow along by email here. And on Pinterest. Also, have you seen this interesting ted talk? I recently got a carbon steel pan and it still didn't develop that black nonstick coating and might be driving me crazy though I really want to love it. Check out this new website for Jewish women. And this list of Jewish food bloggers Melinda pulled together.


Toffee Pudding Cake

ingredients

Cake
3/4 pound (about 2 1/4 cups) dried dates, preferably Medjool

2 1/4 cups boiling water
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
3 large eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour

Maldon salt, as garnish

Toffee Sauce
8 tablespoons (1 stick) salted butter, melted
1 cup heavy or whipping cream
1 cup dark brown sugar 

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

directions

Pit and roughly chop dates and place them in a heatproof bowl. Pour boiling water over them and stir in the baking soda. Cover the bowl and let sit for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, heat oven 350F. Generously butter a bundt pan or a 9 x 13 inch baking pan. Blend the date-water mixture in a food processor or blender until smooth. In a large bowl, combine the butter and sugars. Whisk in the eggs, one at a time, mixing well in between and then add the salt. Stir in the flour, and then the date puree. Pour the batter into prepared pan and bake for 45-50 minutes or until the toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. If using a rectangular pan, baking time should be approximately 25-30 minutes. Let the cake cool and transfer to a serving plate.

For the sauce, combine the butter, cream, sugar and vanilla in a large saucepan over medium heat and bring to a simmer. Whisk often for 10 minutes, until the mixture thickens and turns a deep auburn color. 

To serve, drizzle some toffee sauce over the bundt cake and sprinkle the Maldon sea salt over it. Or, you can do individual servings by cutting the cake into slices or squares and drizzling each one with the toffee sauce and a pinch of sea salt.