Whole Wheat Sticky Toffee Date Cake

Directions

1. Make the cake: Heat oven to 325ºF and butter an 8-inch square, 9-inch round cake pan, or bundt pan.
2. In a small pot, combine dates, lemon juice, and 3/4 cup water. Bring mixture to a boil, then simmer gently until dates soften and start to fall apart, about 6 minutes. Stir in the vanilla extract and apple sauce. Set aside to cool.
3. While date mixture cools, stir together whole wheat flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cardamom, ginger and salt.
4. Using an electric mixer, beat butter and coconut sugar together on medium speed until light and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Mix in cooled date mixture, followed by flour mixture.
5. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan, spreading evenly and smoothing the surface. Bake for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean with just a few crumbs clinging to it.
6. Meanwhile, make the sticky toffee: In a small pot, combine brown rice syrup and honey, coconut sugar and salt. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, whisking to dissolve sugar. Once sugar dissolves and bubbles, remove from heat and swirl in butter.
7. When the cake comes out of the oven, spoon half the sticky toffee over it and let cool in the pan on a wire rack. (It will soak into the cake.)
8. When the cake has cooled enough to handle, flip it out of the pan onto a serving dish or parchment paper. (Remember it’s got sticky toffee on the bottom, so there’s no moving it off that dish once you flip it.)
9. Do this step shortly before serving: Pour the remaining sticky toffee over the cake and spread across the top (you may need to re-warm the toffee to loosen it up). Sprinkle with fleur de sel and serve. Store, loosely wrapped, at room temperature for up to 2 days.