Dan Lepard's tamarind date cake recipe

This one's in the running as the best date cake ever. I've assumed you have a mortar and pestle, for grinding the cardamom – a bit cheeky, but it does give a much better flavour than pre-ground. 200g chopped dates 50g tamarind paste 250g unsalted butter 150g dark brown sugar 2 large eggs 275g plain flour 2 tsp bicarbonate of soda 175g shelled walnuts, roughly chopped 150g icing sugar The seeds from 6-8 cardamom pods, finely ground Juice of ½ lemon Line the base and sides of a deep, 18cm cake tin with nonstick baking paper, and heat the oven to 180C (160C fan-assisted)/350F/gas mark 4. Put the dates, tamarind paste and 300ml water in a pan and bring to a boil. Boil for a minute, remove from the heat, add the butter, and set aside for 10 minutes to cool. Add the brown sugar, stir, then beat in the eggs until smooth. Beat in the flour and bicarb, then stir in the walnuts. Spoon the cake mix into the tin and bake for about an hour, or until a skewer poked into the centre comes out clean. Remove and leave to cool. When cold, make a thick, smooth icing with the icing sugar, cardamom, juice and a little water, if needed, and spoon over the cake so it dribbles down the sides. danlepard.com/guardian