While the toffee sauce is cooking, make the sponge. Preheat your oven to 350 F. Grease either an 8x8 pan or six 1/2 cup ramekins with melted butter. ** Set them aside.
Place the dates in a saucepan. Add the water and place over medium heat. Once the water is mostly absorbed, take the saucepan off of the heat and add the baking soda, it will bubble like mad - just keep stirring. ***
215g (7.5 oz) dried pitted dates, ¾ cup water, 1 tsp baking soda
In a large bowl, whisk to combine the all-purpose flour, baking powder, kosher salt, ground ginger, and ground cardamom.
¾ cup +2 tbsp all-purpose flour, 1 tsp baking powder, ½ tsp kosher salt, 1 tsp ground ginger, ½ tsp ground cardamom
Set the dry ingredients aside and in a separated bowl add the butter and light brown sugar. Cream the two together using a stand or hand mixer before the egg. Beat the egg into the butter/sugar mixture until smooth. Fold the dates into the wet ingredients.
¼ cup unsalted butter, ¾ cup light brown sugar, 1 large egg
Form a well in the center of the dry ingredient and add the wet. Stir to combine but don’t over mix. Evenly divide the batter across the six grease ramekins or pour it into your prepared 8x8 pan. Smooth the top and transfer to the oven.
If baking in ramekins, bake the puddings for 30 minutes or until a toothpick can be inserted in the center and removed cleanly. If you’re baking your pudding in a pan the bake time will be closer to 40. If you used a pan let the cake cool slightly before slicing and serving. But if you used ramekins, let the cakes cool for 10 minutes before carefully unmolding them onto a cooling rack.