Spiced date cake with cream cheese & honey frosting

By Drizzle ‘n Dip

To Make the cake preheat your oven to 160C / 325F and line 3 x 18cm or 2 x 20cm-22cm cake tins with baking paper.

Soak the pitted dates for about 20 minutes in a bowl with the Peel’s honey, the bicarbonate of soda and the boiling water.

Blend this in a food processor until fairly smooth, then add the sugar, butter, spices and vanilla extract and process until well incorporated. Add the self-raising flour and mix briefly until just combined. Scrape down the bowl and the blades. * If you are wanting to be totally accurate with dividing the batter between 3 cake tins, decant the batter into a bowl and weigh this. Divide this weight into 3 and then evenly portion off the cake batter per tin. Alternatively, simply divined the batter into two 20 – 22cm tins.

Bake for 40 – 45 minutes until the cakes are well risen and springy to the touch and when a knife is inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Allow the cakes to cool in the tins for about 10 minutes and then remove and place on a cooling rack.

To make the icing, use an electric mixer, cream the butter, Muscovado sugar and honey together. Whip for about 3-4 minutes until pale and becoming fluffy. The sugar should be mostly dissolved. Then add the icing sugar and vanilla extract and whisk for a further 5 minutes or so. By now the sugar should have dissolved. Add the cream cheese and whip for a further minute or two until well combined and very fluffy.

Ice the cake with a generous layer of frosting between the 3 cakes and on the top and sides. If your freezer is big enough, put the cake in the freezer for a bit so that the icing firms up. Heat the Peel’s salted honey caramel in the microwave for about 20 seconds until it is soft enough to drip. Gently drizzle this over the top of the cake allowing some to spill over the edge. Allow time as this will drip on its own. Add a little extra to the drip ‘channels’ should you need to.

Decorate with Peel’s honeycomb rocks just before you serve. These will soften once left out for too long so do this at the last minute.