This Sticky Date cake is effectively a boiled fruit cake, but as it’s egg-free and uses a tin of condensed milk, I was intrigued. It’s a recipe from ‘The Hairy Bikers: Mums know best’ and was given to them by someone they met. When Mum looked at the recipe, she recognised it as one of Delia Smith’s, so if ever you needed evidence that recipes do the rounds, then here you have it.

I have to say, I’m not sure that ‘sticky’ is the perfect word. It is sticky, but more than that, it’s moist and flavourful. The condensed milk gives it a hint of caramel and richness. As I say so frequently that I bore even myself, it is easy to do. It’s fun to do too – not least because the unappetising gunk in the saucepan transforms into quite possibly the nicest fruitcake ever.

So into your saucepan, put the raisins, dates, sultanas and currants with the butter, water and tin of condensed milk. At this point you’ll be thinking all sorts of things that I shouldn’t really post here.

Slowly bring it to the boil, stirring frequently to avoid the edges catching. Reduce the heat and simmer for 3-4 mins.

Transfer it all to a heatproof bowl and set aside for around 30 ins to cool. If you want to speed the cooling process, just sit the bowl in a sink of cold water.

You can see how much the texture changes once it’s cool. If you should happen to stick your finger in to taste the mixture, it might feel a bit grainy, but don’t worry about that.

Stir in a tablespoon of marmalade

then fold in the flour and bicarb

Spoon into the tin and smooth lightly. Cover with the doubled piece of parchment and bake for 2 – 2½ hours. I checked my cake at 2 hours and it needed the additional time.

Cool the cake in the tin for 10 minutes, then take it out of the tin and cool completely on a wire rack.

Slices nicely, doesn’t it? It can be a bit crumbly, but that’s hardly a problem when the crumbs taste as they do.

Who did that?!

mmmmhfdjikfjs *swallow* here’s the recipe.

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Sticky Date Cake

(recipe -modified by me- from Delia Smith, the Hairy Bikers, Tom Cobley and all)

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110g/4oz raisins
225g/8oz chopped dates
175g/6¼oz sultanas
110g/4oz dried currants
275g/10oz butter
275ml/10fl oz water
1 x 400g/14oz can condensed milk
300g/10 oz plain flour (or 150g plain and 150g wholemeal flour)

pinch salt
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 heaped tbsp chunky marmalade

Preheat the oven to 170C/340F/Gas 3. Grease and line a 20cm/8in square cake tin. Also prepare a doubled piece of baking parchment (to sit over the top of the cake whilst it cooks) and cut a hole the size of a 50p piece in the middle.

Place the raisins, dates, sultanas and currants into a saucepan together with the butter, water and condensed milk. Slowly bring the mixture to the boil, stirring frequently to prevent the mixture from burning. Reduce the heat and simmer for 3-4 minutes.

Transfer the mixture to a heatproof bowl and set aside to cool for around 30 mins. If you haven’t got 30 mins, put the bowl in cold water and keep stirring to cool it more quickly.

Meanwhile, mix together the flour, salt and bicarbonate of soda in a separate bowl.

When the fruit mixture has cooled, fold it into the flour along with the marmalade until smooth and well combined. Spoon the mixture into the prepared cake tin.
Cover the tin with a double layer of baking parchment (cut a hole about the size of a 50p piece in the middle so that it doesn’t steam), then bake the cake in the oven for 2 – 2½ hours, or until the cake is springy to the touch and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. I checked mine at 2 hours and if definitely needed the extra time.

Allow the cake to cool for ten minutes in the tin before turning it out onto a cooling rack. Wrapped in baking parchment and foil, it keeps like a dream. We have a few slices left from 2 weeks ago and it is still perfect.