Gingerbread sticky toffee pudding cake

This is a new classic: a sticky toffee pudding twist on gingerbread. Of course, there has to be toffee sauce, lots of toffee sauce!

Credit: Flour Power Christmas: Twisted Classics

• serves

  8

• prep

  25 minutes

• cook

  55 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

Toffee sauce

• 1 cup brown sugar
• ½ cup molasses
• 1 cup cream
• 115 g (½ cup) butter
• ½ tsp salt

Cake

• Oil, for greasing
• 2½ cups plain flour, plus more for dusting bundt pan
• 1 cup stout
• 1 cup finely diced dates
• 230 g (1 cup) butter, at room temperature
• ½ cup brown sugar
• ¾ cup molasses
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2.5 cm (1 in) piece of ginger, grated
• 4 eggs
• 1 tsp (5 ml) baking soda
• 3 tsp (15 ml) baking powder
• ½ tsp nutmeg
• ¼ tsp ground cloves
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp salt

To garnish

• ¼-½ cup finely chopped crystallised ginger, to garnish
• ½ tsp salt flakes, to garnish

Instructions

1. To make the toffee sauce, place a heavy saucepan over medium heat and add brown sugar, molasses, cream, butter and salt. Bring sauce to a gentle boil, stirring frequently until thick and creamy. Remove sauce from heat and set aside.
2. To make the cake, preheat oven to 175°C (350°F). Grease and flour a bundt pan.
3. Add stout and dates to a small bowl and heat for 2 minutes in the microwave. Set aside to soften.
4. Cream butter with brown sugar, molasses, vanilla and grated ginger. Add eggs and beat in. Roughly blend dates and stout and beat into butter mixture.
5. Whisk together flour with baking soda, baking powder, nutmeg, cloves, ground ginger, cinnamon, and salt. Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture, folding until just mixed. Transfer batter into prepared bundt pan and bake for 30 minutes.
6. Remove hot bundt pan from oven and poke holes into the top of the cake with a toothpick. Pour half of the ginger toffee sauce over the cake. Return pan to the oven to bake for another 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Turn cake out onto a wire rack to cool.
7. When ready to serve, heat remaining ginger toffee sauce and pour over top. Sprinkle cake with finely chopped crystallised ginger and salt flakes.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.