A cake or a pud ... take your pick T

Specifically, enjoying a rich double espresso at the delightful Cookie Stéfanie on Rue St Jacques in Montreal, watching the Québecois heading off to work. Having tried the bakery’s delicious rugelach and a remarkable Kouign-Amann 340g Medjool dates, stoned 1.5 tsp bicarbonate of soda 3 Earl Grey tea bags 700ml boiling water 115g butter, room temperature 170g unrefined golden caster sugar 4 large fresh free-range eggs 450g plain flour 1 tsp baking powder 150g pecan nuts, finely chopped 150g stoned Medjool dates, diced occasion of her coronation in 1953, and that its rather frugal nature was a reflection of the extant rationing situation in the UK and further afield.

Another school of thought opines that the cake was created in honour of the 1937 coronation of King George VI and his wife Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. There’s little evidence for this, though, and I’m definitely in the QE2 camp on this one.

But here’s a thing; what’s really interesting is that the base cake is curiously similar to one of our home-grown classics, the famous Sticky Toffee Pudding, created at the Village Bakery in Cartmel, Cumbria (though, again, there is much consternation about the genesis of this beloved pud). It’s almost exactly the same, barring a few differences in basic quantities. There’s a subject for the next world food symposium – who pinched who’s recipe. I can see the court circular even now … The Crown vs The North.

Anyway, I set to and researched a few recipes for Gateau Reine Elizabeth, in order to get the general gist of things, and noted that the cake is essentially a sticky toffee pudding with a coconut topping instead of the caramel sauce.

So, I tinkered with my own recipe, refined over many years at The Weavers Shed until prettymuch faultless, and added some extra bits of date and pecan for a nice textural contrast.

The cake should be served at room temperature, with a good cup of tea, but I see no reason whatsoever why you couldn’t warm it gently in an oven and pour over a good dollop of vanilla custard. It’d work equally well as a hearty winter pudding.

God save the Queen. bowl, cover with clingfilm and refrigerate until needed. Heat the oven to 180°C / Gas 4. In the bowl of a mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until very pale. Add the eggs, one by one, making sure each is incorporated before adding the next. Add the date purée to this mixture, and then gently sift in the flour and baking powder, whisking the whole mixture together to make a thick batterlike consistency. Fold in the pecan pieces and the diced Medjool date. Butter the cake tin lightly, and line the base with a neat square of baking parchment. Butter this lightly too, and dust the whole tin with plain flour. Knock out the excess, and pour in the cake batter. Bake for 30-40 minutes, until risen and golden. Remove from the oven and allow to cool a little while you make the topping; in a saucepan, combine all the ingredients bar the coconut. Bring to the boil and then turn down the heat and bubble the mixture for a couple of minutes. Stir in the coconut and spoon immediately on the cake, evening with a spatula if necessary. Return the cake to the oven and continue cooking for 5 to 10 minutes or until the filling is golden brown. Cool completely, and cut into suitable squares to serve. Alternatively, serve straight from the oven with custard, cream or ice-cream.