Sticky Date Pudding

"Pudding" in Australia means cake - and according to my local Ozzies, a steamed cake with a sweet sauce. Not sure how accurate that is as all the recipes I found for this called for baking. The caramel/butterscotch sauces are what make it "sticky". I'm not a fan of super sweet things so didn't think too highly of this dessert, but from the requester it got rated with 4 stars. I myself give it 2 stars, so taking the average this earns 3. "Golden syrup" is also an ozzie ingredient that Americans have never heard of. It's supposedly similar to molasses but not as dark, nor bitter. Lacking that, the sauce wasn't quite right.

• 1 1/4 c water
• 1 3/4 c pitted dates, chopped
• 1 t soda
• 1/4 c butter
• 2 eggs
• 1 t vanilla
• 1 1/4 c flour
• 1 t salt
• 1 3/4 t powder
• 2/3 c brown sugar

Sauce

• 1/4 c butter
• 1/4 c whipping cream
• 1/2 c brown sugar

1. In a small saucepan bring water and dates to a boil. Add butter and soda. Remove from heat. Let sit for 15-20 minutes.
2. Preheat oven to 180C. Grease cake pan.
3. Beat in eggs and vanilla.
4. In a large bowl, combine flour, salt, powder and brown sugar. Break apart any sugar lumps.
5. Pour wet ingredients into bowl and fold until just combined.
6. Transfer to cake pan and bake for 40 min, or until center comes out clean.
7. 10 minutes before the cake is done, prepare sauce. Bring all sauce ingredients to a boil and then simmer for 3-5 minutes, until slightly thickened.
   
8. Cool for 10 minutes. Flip onto serving plate. Poke holes throughout cake and pour half the sauce on top.
9. Serve with remaining sauce and ice cream.