For the sponge:
200 grams soft dried pitted dates (roughly chopped)
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
75 grams soft unsalted butter (plus more for greasing)
2 x 15ml tablespoons black treacle
50 grams dark muscovado sugar
2 large eggs (at room temperature)
150 grams self raising (cake) flour
For the sauce:
75 grams soft unsalted butter
150 grams dark muscovado sugar
1 large teaspoon black treacle
100 grams creme fraiche
23cm square baking tin
Preheat the oven to 180°
Line the baking tin with parchment paper
Put the chopped dates, 200ml of boiling water and bicarbonate of soda into a bowl, give a stir and then leave for 10 minutes.
Cream the butter and black treacle until well mixed, then add the sugar and mix again, beating out any lumps. Beat in an egg and keep beating — scraping down as necessary — until completely incorporated, then do likewise with the other egg. Beating more gently, add the flour until you have a smooth, thick batter.
Using a fork, stir the soaked dates, squishing them a bit, then pour the dates and their liquid into the batter and beat gently to mix in.
Pour and scrape into your prepared tin and bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean.
While the pudding’s in the oven, you can make the sauce. Melt the butter, muscovado sugar and treacle over a very low heat in a heavy-based saucepan. Once the butter’s melted, stir gently until everything else is melted too. Now stir in the cream, then turn up the heat and when it’s bubbling and hot, take it off the heat.
As soon as it’s out of the oven, prick the cooked sponge pudding all over with a cocktail stick and 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 a thick sticky glaze. Put a lid on the remaining sauce in the pan to keep it warm.
Leave for 20-30 minutes, or up to an hour is fine, then take to the table, with the rest of the sauce in a jug, and cream to serve.
