For those of you visiting from the Inspire me Monday Hop hosted by Create With Joy, please note that the FREE E-BOOK is not currently available for free, but you can still get a copy for 99 cents on Amazon. The recipe I’m sharing with you is from Escape From the Forbidden Planet by Julie Ann Grasso.
Confession … I love to cook and bake and I secretly want to start a foodie blog. There, I said it. I really needed to get that off my chest!
If you read our review of Escape From the Forbidden Planet by Julie Grasso, you’ll know that I asked nicely begged for the recipe to the Sticky Date and Chocolate Cake With Caramel Cardamom Sauce that is mentioned over and over and over in the book. “Date”, “Chocolate”, “Cake” and “Caramel” are amongst my top ten favorite words – seriously. How could I not try to make this recipe? Luckily, Julie was kind enough to share the recipe with me. Turns out that the recipe can be found in an Australian Tupperware cookbook, entitled “Cook” written by Jo Richardson and the original recipe name is “Sticky Date and Chocolate Pudding With Caramel Sauce” and it was – well, how can I put this? – in need of being “North Americanized”. And be sure to scroll all the way down to see how to get a FREE copy of Escape From the Forbidden Planet.
Without further ado, here is my take on the famous recipe…
Sticky Date and Chocolate Cake With Caramel Cardamom Sauce
Cake Ingredients:
250 g pitted dates
3/4 cup boiling water
1 tsp baking soda
2/3 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground cardamom
1 cup semi-sweet mini chocolate chips
Caramel Cardamom Sauce Ingredients:
2/3 cup butter
3/4 cup cream
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp ground cardamom
Cake Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Place rack on the bottom shelf in the oven. Grease and flour bundt pan (or pan of choice).
2. Cut up the dates roughly and put in large glass bowl. Add the boiling water and stir in the baking soda. Set aside to cool.
3. Place softened butter in large bowl. With electric mixer, beat at high speed until fluffy and light coloured. Add granulated and brown sugars; beat until mixture is even fluffier.
4. Add eggs and vanilla to batter and beat until smooth.
5. Pour date mixture into batter and mix well.
6. In separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, cloves, and cardamom. Pour half over batter and mix with spoon until no streaks remain. Stir in remaining flour mixture.
7. Add chocolate chips and mix until well distributed.
8. Pour into prepared pan. Bake for 60 minutes or until firm. Allow to stand for 10 minutes before turning out onto a rack to cool.
Caramel Cardamom Sauce Instructions:
1. Combine the butter, cream, and brown sugar in a medium sized sauce pan. Heat over medium heat until bubbling, stirring constantly. Cook 3 to 5 minutes more until the mixture is a deep amber colour. Remove from heat and add vanilla and cardamom. Allow to cool and serve with the cake.
Voila…
* Now, for the FREEBIE… *
Escape From the Forbidden Planet by Julie Anne Grasso can be downloaded for FREE as a Kindle e-book from Amazon on March 6 and 7, 2013. Just click on the cover below:
