Pecan Toffee Cake

Over the holidays I made this cake twice it was so good. The first one was to give to my Dad for Christmas because he really likes dates. The second was to slice and wrap up and give to my friends as gifts.

One of my secret treats is to buy British food and decorating magazines. This recipe comes from the December edition of BBC Good Food. I initally chose it because I had a container of dates leftover from celebrating the Iranian holiday Shab-e-Yalda with my class.

This cake is tender and absolutely delicious. For the sugar, I used the spiced sugar recipe from Jamie Oliver's website (http://www.jamieoliver.com/ - worth checking out and delicious in tea). I made it the first time with walnuts because I had those in the cupboard. The second time I used pecans (as in the photo). Pecans or walnuts this cake is definitely a keeper!

Pecan Toffee Cake (December 2008 BBC Good Food)

300g pecans or walnuts

140 g dates

200g butter, softened

200g sugar (or use Jamie Oliver's recipe for spiced sugar - see above)

1 tsp mixed spice

4 eggs

1/2 tsp salt

140g self-raising flour (I used all-purpose flour and 1 tsp baking powder)

maple syrup

* Put 100g of the nuts into a processor and whiz up until fine and put into a small bowl. Put the dates in a saucepan and add enough water to cover them. Bring to a boil and boil for 5 minutes. Drain, discarding the liquid. Let cool and liquify in the processor.

Preheat the oven to 350F. Butter and line with buttered wax paper a 10" springform cake pan. Beat together the butter and sugar then add in the dates, ground nuts, spice, eggs and salt. Then fold in the flour and baking powder. Put the leftover 200g of nuts over the top being careful not to push them down. Bake for 40 minutes. When it comes out of the oven, lightly pour maple syrup over top of the hot cake.

This cake freezes well. I wrap one quarter pieces of the cake in wax paper then in foil.