Grease a cupcake tin with butter and set aside. Heat the oven to fan 160°C.

Soak the dates in the boiling water with the spices. Leave to steep for a minimum of 30 mins or up to overnight. Once cooled, blitz into a paste.

Add the butter and sugar to a bowl and whisk together for 5-7 mins until fluffy and pale.

Add the eggs, one at a time, beating together until thoroughly combined.

In another bowl, whisk the flour and bicarbonate of soda until combined. Add to the butter mixture until a paste forms, then fold in the date mixture.

Slowly add the milk to the date batter until a loose cake batter forms – it will split, but don't worry.

Pour the batter evenly into the cupcake tin – around 60g of batter per cupcake. Bake for 15-20 mins until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to fully cool in the tins.

Meanwhile, make the salted caramel sauce: Add about ⅕ of the sugar to a large pan and set it over a medium heat. Gently ‘swipe’ the sugar from side to side to ensure it’s heating evenly. Turn the heat down if you think it's looking too dark – you want a lovely light caramel colour. Once this first layer looks like it’s starting to melt, add another layer (about ⅕ of the sugar again), and so on until all the sugar has dissolved and caramelised. This will take a while but is worth it!

Gently warm the cream in another pan, then slowly add it to your caramelised sugar, stirring to incorporate it gradually. Leave it to cool slightly then add the sea salt to taste.

Transfer the cooled cakes from their tins to a plate or wire rack then drizzle the salted caramel. Finish with an extra sprinkling of sea salt and serve with vanilla ice cream , if you like.