You can make a large pudding or individual servings, and the sticky sauce is devilishly good over simple vanilla ice cream, too.
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: about 30 minutes
Serves: 6–8
Ingredients
- 150g stoned dates
- 300g softened unsalted butter, plus a little extra for greasing
- 300g light muscovado sugar
- 4 medium eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon mixed spice
- 150g self-raising flour
- 1/4 teaspoon flaky sea salt
- 150ml double cream or ice cream
- double cream or ice cream to serve
Method
Put the dates into a small saucepan, then pour in enough water to cover them. Put the pan over medium heat and bring to the boil. Cook for five minutes or until the dates are very soft.
Drain the dates in a sieve, discarding the cooking liquid. Tip them into the bowl of a food processor and process until smooth. Cool for a few minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180°C and rub a little butter around the inside of a 20×30cm baking tin or small roasting tin, then line it with baking paper.
To line the tin: cut a rectangle of baking paper a little larger than the tin, then make a 10cm cut in each corner towards the centre. Press it into the tin, letting the paper from the snipped corners overlap and seal together.
Next, weigh 200g of the butter and 200g of the sugar and add them to the food processor with the dates. Process until smooth.
Add the eggs, vanilla, mixed spice, flour and salt and process everything to a smooth batter. Spoon the mix into the prepared tin. Bake for 30 minutes, until golden and well risen.
Sticky toffee sauce
While the pudding cooks, make the sticky toffee sauce. Put the remaining sugar and butter into a pan. Add the cream and cook very gently for five minutes, or until the grains of sugar have dissolved.
Turn up the heat and simmer for 10 minutes, until it has thickened and darkened to a silky toffee sauce.
When the pudding has been cooking for 30 minutes, insert a skewer into the middle. If the skewer comes out dry, the pudding is ready. If there are any traces of batter on the skewer, give the pudding five minutes longer in the oven before checking again.
Cut the pudding into squares and transfer to plates. Spoon some of the sauce over the top and serve, with a little more cream or ice cream.
To make individual puddings
Butter eight small pudding moulds, then fill with the pudding mix. Sit the moulds in a roasting tin and bake for 20 minutes, or until risen and golden. Check with a skewer.
Are you a fan of sticky toffee pudding? Have you ever made it at home? Let us know in the comments section below.
Also read: Pecan and Pear Upside Down Cake
What To Cook & How To Cook It, by Jane Hornby, and published by Phaidon. RRP: $59.95.
