Eva Lawes' Sticky Toffee Cake

Method

1. Boil the kettle. Pop the chopped dates in a large bowl and pour the boiling water over them. Leave to soak for 20 mins.
2. Preheat the oven to 180℃. Grease and Line three 9 inch Cake tins.
3. Cream together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy, I use a freestanding mixer with a paddle attachment for this but it can be done with a handheld or by hand with a wooden spoon and a powerful arm.
4. Crack the eggs in and mix in one at a time, add in a little of the flour to prevent curdling.
5. Sift the remaining dry ingredients together; flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder and salt. Add these to the batter in two stages and mix on a low speed until incorporated. Avoid over mixing as this will leave you with a dense stodgy cake. 
6. Add the vanilla essence to the dates and mix all of this in with the cake mixture.
7. Pour the batter into the prepared cake tins, pop into the oven and bake for 25-30 mins or until a skewer comes out clean.
8. Remove from oven and leave tins to cool.
9. While you wait get working on the buttercream. Beat the unsalted butter in a mixer with a paddle attachment for 3-4 mins to make it fluffy and incorporate some air.
10. Sift in the Icing sugar and then beat these together until they combine and become a thick mess.
11. Add in the milk and beat until the frosting becomes smooth and fluffy. Then add in the dulce de leche, beat until the caramel is well mixed in with the frosting.
12. Remove the Cakes from their tins when they are cool. Spread a layer of buttercream on one, add in chopped pieces of crunchie bars if using, top with the next layer of cake and repeat.
13. Using the rest of the frosting and a palette knife (if you don’t have a palette knife a spatula or butter knife will do) cover the sides and top of the cake.
14. Decorate. You can use fresh fruit, nuts, petals, etc to decorate the cake however you wish.