Warm Date, Ginger, and Orange Cake with Salted Vanilla Toffee Sauce

Indulgent, sweet, soft, moist, and warm, this Warm Date, Ginger, and Orange Cake, drenched in luscious Salted Vanilla Toffee Sauce, will surely become a holiday favourite with your entire family.

The one problem with this recipe is a serious one: if you make this once, your family will likely ask you to make it every year from now on. Such was the case with my extended family. After quite a few years of making this delectable special occasion dessert at every single holiday all year round, I incorrectly assumed everyone would be eager for a change of pace. I showed up to whatever holiday dinner it was with, gasp, some other dessert. Let me tell you, I did not hear the end of it for a very long time. Why, why had I made another dessert?! I was asked too many times to count. All this to say, this recipe is a real keeper! And, one that I shall make forevermore, for every big holiday, much to the ongoing delight of about 25 or so of my relatives!

What is a “warm cake” exactly ?

This luscious warm cake is adapted from Sticky Date Pudding and Sticky Toffee Pudding, classic desserts of somewhat disputed British origin. For those cooks who don’t originate from the UK, the term pudding may conjure up visions of a soft, mousse like dessert, which is definitely not the case in this instance. Here, pudding means both the general term for dessert, and more specifically, a soft, moist cake cooked in the oven.

Ingredients

Warm Date, Ginger, and Orange Cake is made with only 10 ingredients, many of which are quite possibly kitchen staples in your household, as they are in mine:

• medjool dates - while you can use any kind of dried date, I especially love medjool dates for their caramel-like flavour and moist consistency, but any dried date works just fine
• orange juice - store bought works fine, no need for fresh juice
• fresh ginger - while any fresh ginger works, organic ginger has the most robust flavour
• baking soda
• organic unbleached all purpose flour
• baking powder
• salt
• unsalted butter
• organic cane sugar
• eggs

For the Salted Vanilla Toffee Sauce, you'll need just 4 ingredients:

• unsalted butter
• muscovado (dark brown) sugar
• heavy cream
• vanilla extract

How to make Warm Date, Ginger, and Orange Cake with Salted Vanilla Toffee Sauce

While making this moist, warm cake involves a few separate steps, each step is straightforward and easily accomplished.

To begin, simmer pitted and chopped dates with orange juice and grated ginger.

Once the dates have softened, add a small amount of baking soda to the mixture. This helps break down the pectin in the dates, making them even softer and helping the cake to rise.

As the cooked date mixture cools, prepare the cake batter by first sifting together the dry ingredients, then separately blending the butter and sugar.

Add the eggs into the butter and sugar mixture, one at a time, and finally, add the flour in small batches.

Combine the cooled date mixture with the cake batter.

Gently mix the two components together with a wooden spoon to form the final cake batter.

Spoon the finished cake batter into a prepared buttered and floured pan.

Use a larger pan, big enough to hold the cake pan in, to make the bain-marie. Pour just-boiled water into the larger pan, halfway up the sides of the cake pan. This cooking method creates a steamy oven atmosphere and helps keep the cake moist as it cooks.

As the cake bakes in the oven, quickly make the Salted Vanilla Toffee Sauce on the stovetop.

Featuring a simple combination of muscovado sugar, butter, heavy cream, and vanilla, this deeply coloured, rich, and sweet sauce provides just the right amount of sea salt to add flavour, balance, and comforting decadence to the whole dessert-eating experience.

Once the cake is cooked and removed from the oven, use a wooden skewer to poke holes throughout the cake. Pour some of the Salted Vanilla Toffee Sauce onto the surface of the cake. This moistens the cake and gives it its signature sticky and glossy top.

Doubling the recipe

I always make a double batch of the Salted Vanilla Toffee Sauce even when I make a single quantity of Warm Date, Ginger, and Orange Cake. In fact, I usually make a double quantity of the cake itself as I am most often baking this cake for a large crowd, so sometimes I even make a triple batch of sauce!

If making a double batch of the cake, increase the pan size from an 8 x 8 to a 9 x 13, and at the stated cooking time, check the cake, and add up to 15-20 more minutes cooking time, 5 minutes at a time, or until a wooden skewer comes out clean of cake batter. As all ovens vary in their actual temperature, the cooking time is variable.

Serving Warm Date, Ginger, and Orange Cake with Salted Vanilla Toffee Sauce

To serve Warm Date, Ginger, and Orange Cake, cut the warm cake into squares, pour a generous portion of the warm Salted Vanilla Toffee Sauce over or puddled under each serving, and top with optional vanilla ice cream, or my favourite, unsweetened vanilla bean flecked whipped cream.

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Print Recipe

Warm Date, Ginger, and Orange Cake with Salted Vanilla Toffee Sauce

Indulgent, sweet, soft, moist, and warm, this Warm Date, Ginger, and Orange Cake, drenched in luscious Salted Vanilla Toffee Sauce, is sure to become a holiday favourite with your entire family.

Prep Time35 minutes mins

Cook Time40 minutes mins

Total Time1 hour hr 15 minutes mins

Servings: 9 servings

Ingredients

For the Warm Date, Ginger, and Orange Cake

• 280 grams medjool dates (about 1 ¾ cups packed) pitted and roughly chopped
• 2 cups orange juice or 1 cup water and 1 cup orange juice for a more subtle orange flavour
• 1 tablespoon organic ginger finely grated; measured after grating
• 1 ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 240 grams unbleached organic all purpose flour (2 cups) a few tablespoon extra for preparing the baking pan
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 85 grams unsalted butter (6 tbsp) room temperature, extra for preparing the pan
• ½ cup organic cane sugar
• 3 large eggs room temperature

For the Salted Vanilla Toffee Sauce

• 250 ml whipping cream
• 150 grams unsalted butter
• 300 grams muscovado dark brown sugar
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 pinch sea salt or to taste
• Optional vanilla ice cream or unsweetened whipped cream made with vanilla extract or vanilla paste

Instructions

For the Warm Date, Ginger, and Orange Cake

• Preheat the oven to 375°F and set an oven rack to the middle position. Prepare an 8 x 8 cake pan with butter and flour, making sure the cake pan will fit inside a larger pan for a bain-marie when it is time for the cake to go into the oven.
• Combine the roughly chopped dates, the orange juice (or orange juice and water) and the finely grated ginger in a medium size pan; make sure the pan is a bit bigger than you need as the mixture will foam up at the end of the cooking process. Cook over medium heat for 15-20 minutes until the dates are very soft and starting to break down. Add in the baking soda and stir. The mixture will foam up quite a bit and then subside. Set aside to cool for about 20 or 30 minutes.
• While the date mixture is cooling, make the cake batter. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, the baking powder, and the salt. Set aside. If using an eclectic mixer, put the butter and granulated cane sugar into a large bowl, and beat until light and fluffy, or use the bowl and paddle attachment of a stand mixer to do the same. Add in the eggs, 1 at a time, and then beat again, until incorporated, until each egg is added and fully mixed in. Add the flour in by the large spoonful, beating briefly after each addition, until all the flour is just incorporated. It’s ok if a few tiny floury patches remain. At this point you will have a thick cake batter.
• Put the kettle on, so that you will have a large quantity of just boiled water to set up the bain marie.
• Add the cooled date mixture to the cake batter, mixing to combine, but not over-mixing - it’s ok if there are a few areas of plain cake batter marbled amongst the date and cake mixture. Spoon the batter into the prepared cake pan and place the cake pan into the larger pan.
• Open the oven door and pull out the middle rack, and place the larger cake pan on the rack. Now pour the just boiled water into the larger pan, making sure not to splash water into your cake pan, until the water comes about halfway up the smaller cake pan. Gently push the oven rack in and close the oven door.
• Bake for about 40 minutes; make the Salted Vanilla Toffee Sauce while the cake is baking (see below).
• At the 40 minute mark, test the cake with a wooden skewer. If there is still cake batter on the skewer, continue to bake for additional 5 minute increments until the skewer comes out clean; as actual oven temperatures vary the actual baking time is variable. The cake will be very moist, and you may see goey dates on the skewer, but you should not see actual uncooked batter.
• Carefully remove the cake pan from the bain-marie and set down on a rack to cool down a bit. (Turn off the oven and let the pan containing the water cool until it is safe enough to remove the pan and dispose of the water.) Use a wooden skewer to poke holes into the cake, and pour a bit of the Salted Vanilla Toffee Sauce over top, using a spatula if needed to completely lacquer the top of the cake with sticky, shiny sauce.
• Serve the cake warm; cut into squares, and pour a generous portion of the warm Salted Vanilla Toffee Sauce over or puddled under each serving, and top with optional vanilla ice cream, or my favourite, unsweetened vanilla bean flecked whipped cream.

For the Salted Vanilla Toffee Sauce

• Add the sugar and the butter in a large pan on medium heat and cook, gently whisking, until the sugar has dissolved and the butter has melted. Whisk more thoroughly to incorporate the butter into the sugar, bring the mixture to a boil, then pour in the whipping cream, noting that this may cause quite a bit of bubbling up so be careful. Bring down to a simmer, and let thicken for about 5 minutes or so. Add in the vanilla extract and a good pinch of sea salt and whisk to combine. Taste and adjust saltiness to your liking. Pour sauce onto or under each serving, and serve any remaining sauce in a small pitcher for guests to add additional sauce as they eat - and rest assured, they will want to!

Notes

Adapted from Sticky Date Pudding with Toffee Sauce.