Stick ‘em up~!
I think I’ve mentioned before on this blog that my kid sister is absolutely hopeless in the kitchen. In fact, my kid brother (who is younger than both of us) is far better at wielding a kitchen knife than she is - whenever I see her attempting to chop something up, my heart leaps into my mouth and I have to resist the urge to make any sudden movements in fear that she will hurt somebody, most likely herself. This probably has something to do with the fact that she has had to do very little fending for herself - she’s always had my mother and I around to take care of her, and there is always at least one of us at home and cooking when she is home and wanting a meal.
Worse comes to worse, there’s always leftovers in the fridge, a fact that she is most grateful for.
I do have to give her some credit, though. She has offered to make dinner for the family…once. And though the dinner actually consisted of an Old El Paso taco kit, she does get points for effort (mostly on the basis that even though my brother does know how to cook a little, he’s never done the same. Though he usually does help with dinner if we ask him to…)
Anyway, my sister’s lack of kitchen prowess isn’t entirely her fault - I do have to admit that some of the blame is on me. You see, as the member of the family who most enjoys pottering around the kitchen, I’m constantly looking for recipes that I think my brother and sister will be fond of and enjoy, and I am forever pestering them and asking them what they would like me to try. Which is how, incidentely, I ended up making a sticky date cake though I’ve never actually tried a sticky date anything before in my life…
As happens quite often, I was sitting at the kitchen table, feeling frustrated, bored and utterly idea-less. You see, I had a baking itch that was begging to be scratched, but alas, I had absolutely no idea what to try. I flipped mindlessly through cookbook after cookbook, before finally admitting defeat and letting out a loud sigh as I dropped my head onto the table.
Thud.
Ouch.
Yeah, lets not repeat that ever again *rubs sore head*
My sister, upon hearing the resounding thump from her room, pranced down the stairs and saw my depressed form sitting behind a mountain of scattered cookbooks. “Uhh,” she probed, “what’s wrong?”
“I want to bake!”
“Eh? Then bake - what’s the problem?”
“I don’t know WHAT to bake!”
I heard her burst into laughter, and I scowled as I looked up. “Why are you laughing?! I don’t think its funny at all! Hunh! I demand you give me an idea!”
The laughter abruptly stopped as her grin was replaced by a rather thoughtful look. “Actually…there’s this thing I tried at a restaurant awhile ago…sticky date…something? With a really nice sauce! Can you make that?”
Eyeballing her, I replied “sticky date something? Can you give me a better idea? Anything??”
“Nah…but sticky date…yeah, that tasted gooooooood!”
Hmph! Some help she was! Oh well - I did have to thank her for giving me some direction. Thankfully, I remembered reading a recipe for a sticky date cake in my Bill Granger cookbook, so the search wasn’t long, and I have to admit that I’m quite glad that my sister suggested this as though I had never actually had a sticky date pudding or cake myself, trying this cake has made me absolutely fall in love.
(the butterscotch sauce should be a lot more oozy..I accidentally cooked it for far too long while watching ‘Knocked Up’! Whoops!)
Sticky Date Cake w/ Butterscotch Sauce
(from “Every Day” by Bill Granger)
Ingredients
300g pitted dates, chopped (NOT medjool dates - they are too soft/moist and will disintegrate)
250mL (1 cup) water
1 tsp bicarb/baking soda
70g unsalted butter, diced
80g caster sugar
1 tsp natural vanilla extract
2 eggs, lightly beaten
185g self-raising flour, sifted
To serve
Butterscotch sauce (below)
Vanilla ice cream
1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Line the base of a 20cm round cake tin with non-stick baking paper.
2. Put the dates in a pan with the water and cook over low-medium heat for 5-6 mins, stirring occasionally, till the dates are soft and almost all the water has been absorbed. Remove the pot from the heat and stir in the bicarb/baking soda (not baking powder!) and butter and set aside for 10 mins to cool slightly.
3. Transfer mixture to a large mixing bowl, then add the sugar, vanilla extract and eggs and stir well to combine. Fold in the sifted flour till well combined, then spoon into your lined cake tin and bake for 50 mins, or till a skewer poked into the middle comes out clean.
4. Leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool. Serve while slightly warm, with some warm butterscotch sauce (below) and ice cream!
Butterscotch Sauce
185g soft brown sugar
200mL cream
150g unsalted butter
Heat the sugar, cream and butter in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Bring to a simmer and cook over low heat for 3 mins. Pour over the sticky date cake and serve each slice with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Technorati Tags: sticky date, cake, butterscotch, recipes, Bill Granger, desserts
And since it’s been awhile since Mr Woofy made an appearance on this blog, here’s a gratuitous cute photo!
He’s SUCH a typical little boy, whenever I kiss his nose he always pulls a face and licks his nose clean (I guess the doggy equivalent of trying to wipe it off), as if to say “Ewww, mom! Gross - don’t kiss me!”
I managed to capture this facial expression purely by chance - and I almost bust a gut laughing when I saw that I’d actually caught it on camera! Hopefully it’s given you a bit of a grin too 
If you want to see more photos of Mr Woofy, you can find them in his Flickr album
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Comments
charlotte s mmm, that cake looks absolutely delicious! i’ll definetely be trying it soon!
Peter Funny you should mention cutting and the danger… my wife is a good cook… but she is … a bit … clumsy. 
Few years ago, while cutting o-deng (fishcake), she was hurring too much and cut her left index finger off!! 
Thankfully, she missed the bone and with her strong attempt at placing it back, it re-attached. But now, everytime I see her cutting, it makes me nervous.
Katie Mmmmm that looks divine. If you want variations, adding roughly mashed banana to the cake or walnuts are classic variations. I think the sauce looks better your way.
Indigo My first reaction when this page came up was ’sticky date cake! Mmm!’ … and then I scrolled down further and read ‘with butterscotch sauce’, at which point I almost had a coronary from my quickened heartbeat 
Looks gorgeous! ^__^
moon Hey, you could have shared this on PBE’s Food Bloggy Pets of the Month. Sigh, maybe next month.
neil Are you getting us into training for all that rich Christmas food to come? You know, when it’s 35c and there is all that food that just has to eaten. The cake looks divine, but I shall not be tempted…yet.
Lynn That cake looks wonderful! Your sister should team up with you in the kitchen more often. And she might learn a thing or two. Wonderful doggy expression there.
brilynn I really like dates, but I think sometimes they get a bad rep, kinda like prunes, but they’re both really good in baking.
Laura I just found your blog through Goddess Findings…I never even thought about combining dates and butterscotch! Though, it makes sense since I like orange cake with butterscotch and oranges go well with dates too. Maybe there should be some sort of "six degrees of dates" separation post.
Deborah I have never had sticky date anything, although I have heard of it. This sounds delicious!
Ellie Tanna - Thanks hon Its definitely one of my favourite shots that I’ve taken of him so far
Charlotte - Thanks hon, glad you think so
Kat - Thanks hon
Peter - Yeouch!!! Glad the finger was reattached, but now I’m gonna be even MORE worried when I see my sister attempt to wield the kitchen knife! 
Katie - Not sure about the banana as this cake is already obscenely moist, but I think the walnuts could definitely be a goer Thanks for the suggestion!
Indigo - Hehehe, I do have to admit that the butterscotch sauce is my favourite part of this 
Hope your heartbeat is now under control!
Moon - It completely slipped my mind!! Sorry, I’ll try and get a good one for next month
Neil - Trying to…is it working? We’ll see if my next post does better
Lynn - I have tried but alas, the only thing I trust her to do in the kitchen is mixing, pouring and washing the dishes (>_<)
Brilynn - I agree completely! No idea why they’ve got such bad reputations,. but they are marvellous in desserts! Actually, that reminds me that I’m yet to blog my prune and almond tart…
Laura - LOL, could be an interesting post!
Deborah - You’re in the same boat that I was Give this recipe a try, it’s a wonderful introduction the the world of the sticky date dessert!
Cindy - Mr Woofy says thank you
Chris I love dates and this recipe is making my mouth water! And, seeing Mr Woofy totally made me smile!
tettora I just made this for my Mum, who adores dates. I turned out amazing!! I did add nearly twice as many dates though (I claimed it added to its health factor lol) and it was very gooey and scrummy. I just started drinking the left over butterscotch from a cup in the fridge however, it’s dangerous to have around!!! 
Ellie Chris - Glad to have made you so happy with this entry
Tettora - I’m glad you and your mum liked the cake And I know what you mean about the butterscotch, its like candy crack, seriously addictive! XD
Ellie, that is a totally terrific Mr Woofy!
And the cake looks really excellent even with the extra thick sauce.