Name: Ginger and caramel cake
Total time: 2 h
Yield: Serves 16
Ingredients: 250g salted butter diced, plus extra for the tin; 200g black treacle; 100ml dark rum; 200ml whole milk; 100g dark brown muscovado sugar; 200g stoned dates roughly chopped; 3 balls stem ginger roughly chopped plus 1 tbsp syrup from the jar for drizzle; 150g Carnation caramel plus 4 tbsp for the icing; 3 eggs; 400g gluten-free plain flour; 2 tsp bicarbonate of soda; 2 tbsp ground ginger; 2 tsp ground cinnamon; 1 tsp mixed spice; 150g salted butter; 450g golden icing sugar; 1 tsp vanilla extract; 3 x 30g bars Caramac bars

250g salted butter
diced, plus extra for the tin
200g black treacle
100ml dark rum
200ml whole milk
100g dark brown muscovado sugar
200g stoned dates
roughly chopped
3 balls stem ginger
roughly chopped plus 1 tbsp syrup from the jar for drizzle
150g Carnation caramel
plus 4 tbsp for the icing
3 eggs
400g gluten-free plain flour
2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tbsp ground ginger
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp mixed spice

ICING

150g salted butter
450g golden icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

DRIZZLE

3 x 30g bars Caramac bars

Method

step 1
Heat the oven to 160C/fan 140C/gas 3. Butter and line 2 x 20cm springform cake tins with baking paper.
step 2
Put the treacle, rum, milk and muscovado sugar in a pan with the chopped dates and stem ginger chunks. Bring to the boil, then bubble for 3 minutes to soften the dates. Use a hand blender to blitz the date mixture to a smooth purée – be careful, it will be hot! Stir in the diced butter until it’s melted, followed by the caramel and the eggs.
step 3
Combine the flour, bicarb and spices in a bowl, then make a well in the centre and pour in the warm date mixture. Mix with a wooden spoon until the batter is lump-free. Divide between the two tins (weigh the mixture for really even layers), then bake in the centre of the oven for 1 hour or until a skewer poked into the centre comes out clean. Cool in the tins.
step 4
When the cakes are cool (or, if wrapped in clingfilm, the sponges will mature to an even tastier cake in a day or two) remove from the tins and make the icing. Beat the butter with electric beaters until soft, then beat in half the icing sugar. Beat in the remaining icing sugar with the vanilla extract, until the icing is fluffy and pale. Beat in the 4 tbsp caramel. Spread a thick layer of icing over one of the cakes and chill for 20 minutes to firm up, then sandwich the second cake on top. Spread the rest of the icing sparsely over the top and sides of the cake, filling any gaps where the sponges were sandwiched and scraping excess icing to give straight, clean, ‘naked’ sides. Chill for 30 minutes until the icing is cold and firm.
step 5
Break up the Caramac bars and melt with the ginger syrup. Remove the cake from the fridge and spoon over the melted sauce a spoon at a time, letting it run down the edges of the cake. It should cool and harden as it hits the cold icing, resulting in dribbles that stop before they hit the bottom of the cake.