Preheat oven to 350 and grease and line a 13X9 baking pan with parchment paper.
Pour boiling hot water over chopped dates. Cover with plastic wrap and let steep for an l 5 minutes. Next stir in the milk, baking soda, and cover again with the plastic and allow to come to room temperature.
While the dates are softening, let's kick on with the dry ingredients. In a large bowl, sift together the flour and the baking powder. Next add in the cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves. Mix until combined.
Using a stand mixer fixed with the paddle attachment or in a bowl using a handheld mixer, cream together the room temperature butter, brown and granulated sugar. Take your time here to ensure the sugars dissolve as much as possible. Beat on medium-high for 5 minutes. Next up, beat in the eggs, one at a time until fully incorporated. Lastly, add in the vanilla.
Now, let's start adding in the dry ingredients. Start by mixing in about 1/3 of the flour mixture into the bowl, followed by 1/2 of the date mixture. Repeat this process with another third of the flour mixture, the rest of the date mixture, and then ending with the final third of flour. Mix until combined but do not over mix.
Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan and place in the oven for 40-50 minutes, or until a toothpick can be inserted into the center and come out clean.
While the cake is baking away we can get cracking on the caramel sauce. First things first, place a medium-sized pot over medium-high heat and add in the brown sugar, butter, cream and reduce the temperature to medium. Let the mixture boil for about 3-4 minutes and stir frequently. Keep a close eye on this as it could boil over. After 3-4 minutes, remove from the temperature and let cool slightly.
Serve each slice with caramel and a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
