Cape Ginger Tipsy Tart

My sister-in-law Riette once made us a delicious South African dessert, which was very much like a steamed pudding even though it was baked in the oven. I then discovered this recipe in my Green & Black’s cookbook – another South African dish with that wonderful steamed pud texture to it, made ‘tipsy’ by the boozy syrup. I made it at Christmas as an alternative to the conventional pudding and in honour of Riette and her homeland! It’s best served with custard we think. The G&B book has its own twist (mainly just have got it into the book if you ask me – you could easily leave out the chocolate). I would never have though this kind of dish would come out of South Africa as I imagine it to be roasting hot all the time (obviously not true), but apparently they’re very into their hot dinners!

Batter:
1 tsp bicarbonate soda
240g dates, stoned (or 250g with stones), chopped
125ml/ 4fl oz boiling water
40g unsalted butter
200g granulated sugar
2 large eggs
250g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
25g preserved ginger, chopped
100g glace (yuk) or dried cherries – definitely dried!
40g walnuts, chopped (last time I used pecans)
50g dark chocolate, minimum 60 percent cocoa solids

Syrup:
75g granulated sugar
200ml water
salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
25g unsalted butter
60ml brandy or dark rum

Oven and 180 degrees, grease a 23cm flan or pie dish well with butter (needs to be quite deep).

Pat the bicarb over the dates and pour over the boiling water, stir and leave to cool. Cream the butter, sugar together and add the eggs, beat thoroughly. Sift together the flour, bp and salt and stir into the creamed mixture.
Add the date mixture, cherries and nuts. Spoon the mixture into the pie dish and bake for 35 minutes. Place the chocolate in the freezer. Prepare the syrup – you need to pour this over the tart as soon as you get it out of the oven. Boil all the ingredients for the syrup together for about 6 minutes until they form a syrup.
Remove the tart from the oven and prick the surface all over with a fork. Immediately pour over the syrup then grate the chocolate over the top. Delicious! Great with custard on a winter evening, or any time really.