Ingredients:

Cake:

• 15 large dates pitted and chopped
• 215ml boiling water
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 70g butter
• 2 tablespoons molasses
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup + 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder

Sauce:

• 60g butter
• 1 1/2 cups dark brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon dark cocoa
• 250ml cream

Steps:

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and grease your dish. Put the chopped dates, boiling water, and baking soda into a bowl, give a stir, and then leave for 10 minutes.

Cream the butter and molasses until well mixed, then add the sugar and mix well again. Beat in the eggs one at a time and keep beating until completely incorporated, Mix in the flour and baking powder until you have a smooth, thick batter.

Using a fork, stir the soaked dates, squishing them a bit, then pour the dates and the liquid into the batter and mix in. 

Pour the batter into your prepared dish and bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes,   until a cake tester comes out clean. 

While the sponge is in the oven, you can make the sauce.

Melt the butter, sugar and cocoa over a very low heat in a saucepan. Once everything is melted together, add in the cream, then turn up the heat and when it starts bubbling vigorously take it off the heat and set aside.

As soon as the cake is out of the oven, prick the it with a toothpick or bamboo skewer all over, then pour about a quarter of  the warm sauce over, easing it to the edges with a spatula so  that the sponge is entirely topped with the sticky glaze. Leave it for about 30 minutes so the syrup has time to soak in.

Serve with ice-cream and the remaining sauce.