Paul Hollywood’s recipe. The only one from the most recent edition of Good Food, the Christmas edition, that I felt like doing right away. Hollywood dude seems like he knows what he’s doing on The Great British Bake Off, so I gave this one a try. What I like about it is the lovely smooth texture, it seems light and yummy, I will be much more generous next time with the ground ginger, cinnamon, orange zest and nutmeg. I will in fact double it, I think!

For the cake I used 75 g of pitted dates, which I soaked in 250 ml of hot, strong black coffee, then one egg, 75 g of melted butter, 140 g of caster sugar and a zest of 1 orange I’ve beaten together, poured in the coffee minus the dates, then added 175 g of plain flour, the said cinnamon, ground ginger, nutmeg, 2 tsp of baking powder, mixed it all in and poured onto the baking tray. The soaked dates went on top. It baked for 40 minutes in 160 degrees and the whole house smelled fantastic.

Towards the end I made the topping, which I think can be improved as well, Paul says 50 g of butter melted with 100 g of muscovado sugar, stirred on the low heat, with a tbsp of water to make it shiny, then a good handfull of pecan nuts.

It will be made again, but it will be Olutafied. 🙂