Sticky Toffee Pudding

1. Pour 250 ml boiling water into a medium sized bowl. Soak the chopped dates and stir in baking soda into it. Keep aside and start rest of the cake prep. If you dont have time to chop dates just blend them later before adding it to cake batter.
2. Grease and line a 20 x 20 cm (8x8 inch) square cake tin. Preheat the oven at 180 deg C / Gas Mark 4
3. Beat the softened unsalted butter till smooth, then add sugar and beat till pale and fluffy. This step might take 3-4 minutes if done by electric hand whisk.
4. Add one egg and beat till well combined and repeat for each egg addition.
5. Add vanilla extract, mixed spice into the batter and beat for half a minute to combine it well.
6. Fold the dates mixture alongwith water into the batter. If dates are not chopped then you can partially blend them and add in.
7. Sieve the measured flour directly into the bowl and fold until well incorporated. No white streaks of flour should be visible
8. Pour the final batter into the lined cake tin and bake for 45 minutes. I needed an extra 10 minutes but keep checking your cake after 45 minutes for doneness. Insert a skewer or sharp pointy knife and it should come out clean without any wet crumbs.
9. Whilst the cake is baking proceed to make the toffee sauce

Whiskey Toffee Sauce

1. Put all ingredients in a large pan on low heat until butter is melted. Once butter has melted increase heat to medium high and bring to a boil. You can skip whiskey in this recipe and it would still work perfectly fine. Alternatively you can substitute with any other alcohol or liquer of your choice.
2. Continue to boil for about 4 minutes or until sauce coats the back of a steel spoon. Set aside till you are ready to serve.