With her own fair hands

There's a little story to this. (Picture courtesy of @thetearooms )

Some years ago a friend of mine baked a cake that was really rather good, and (even better) extremely easy to make. But better again was her story (completely unsubstantiated but it hardly matters) that this cake was the only one that Queen Elizabeth ever bakes (while on holidays at Sandringham or possibly Balmoral). I have made this cake many times and have never once had a dismal failure with it which I find heartening. I don't take failure lightly. The recipe --   
    
Mix the following in a bowl (it will froth up -- I leave it for about ten minutes):

1 cup of dates (chopped)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup of boiling water

In a separate bowl sift 1.5 cups of flour with a pinch of salt and 1 tsp of baking powder. Add the dates mixture to 1 cup of sugar, 60 grams of butter (diced), and 1 egg (beaten) and add a teaspoon of vanilla. Stir the wet mixture into the flour until well mixed, put into a greased and floured cake tin (23 cm) and bake at 150-160 deg C. for about 30 mins. (Test with a skewer -- it's ready when the skewer comes out clean). When the cake has cooled pour over a topping of 5 tablespoons of brown sugar added to 5 tablespoons of cream and 2 tablespoons of butter all boiled together for about 5 mins.                                                             

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