Lumberjack cake

Time to prepare: 30 minutes Cooking time: 1 hour Serves: 8-10 Ingredients 175g dates, stoned and chopped 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda 250ml boiling water 2 firm large pears, peeled, cored and chopped 100g butter 100g caster sugar 75g light brown sugar 250g self-raising flour 2 eggs, beaten

For the flapjack mix topping

75g butter 150g light brown sugar 100ml double cream 1 tsp vanilla extract 1 tbsp golden syrup 100g desiccated coconut

Method

1 Prepare a 4in deep 9in tin with baking parchment and grease well with butter. Preheat the oven to 180C. 2 Place the bicarbonate of soda, dates and boiling water in a pan and gently bring to a rolling boil. Once the dates are soft, take the pan off the heat. 3 Add the pears and butter into the pan and leave to melt. 4 Add the caster sugar, brown sugar and flour and stir together until well combined. 5 Add the eggs and gently combine. 6 Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake in the oven for 30 minutes. 7 Meanwhile, make the flapjack mix topping. Add the butter, brown sugar, double cream, vanilla extract and golden syrup into a pan and bring to a gentle rolling boil. Stir until well combined. Remove from the heat then add the coconut. 8 Gently spoon the flapjack mix topping on top of the baked cake. Return to the oven and bake for another 30 minutes until thoroughly cooked through. Halfway through the baking time you may wish to cover the cake loosely with foil to prevent it from burning. Once golden brown and firm to touch your cake is ready. 9 Allow to cool in the tin then remove and serve with lashings of Jannettas Gelateria vanilla gelato!

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