• Preheat the oven to 160 C Fan. Butter an oven dish/ tin well.
• Soak chopped dates in 150ml of hot Chai tea for around 20 minutes whilst you prepare the cake mixture.
• Cream butter and dark brown sugar together in a large bowl until light and fluffy with a wooden spoon, or a hand-help electric mixer. Continue mixing and add one egg at a time until fully incorporated. Don't forget to scrape the walls of the bowl to incorporate all the butter that may have stuck to the sides.
• In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and spices. Sift into the egg mixture and mix just enough to combine.
• Add the dates together with any tea that hasn't been soaked up. Tip in crystallised ginger and mix to disperse evenly.
• Pour the mixture into a prepared tin and bake for 45-55 minutes in the centre of the oven. You may need to cover it with tin foil towards the end if it's browning too quickly. To check if it's done, insert a wooden skewer into the middle of the cake. If it comes out clean, with no streaks of batter stuck to it, it's ready!

For the Ginger Toffee Sauce:

• Whilst the cake is in the oven, put all the sauce ingredients into a saucepan. Continuously stirring, heat on medium heat until sugar has dissolved and the sauce starts to thicken.
• Leave the sauce to cool down slightly. Keep fresh ginger in the sauce until you need to serve. Then remove, and reheat the sauce if needed.
• Best served with a generous pour of the Toffee Sauce and a drizzle of double cream or whipped cream.