Sticky Toffee Pudding

mycookinghut April 22, 2012

 

There is one particular pub that I love to go for its good fish & chips. The Mayflower Pub in Rotherhithe Village is classically warm and cosy with French doors opening out onto a deck over the Thames. Just a few weeks ago, we went there as we both were craving for fish and chips. It was the still as good as before but the portion somehow had become smaller. Even though, that didn’t really bother me as I was pretty full after having one portion by myself. We shared a yummy pudding – Sticky Toffee Pudding, also called Sticky Date Pudding.

Stickly Toffee Pudding is a British classic dessert. It is a steamed dessert that is made of dates, served with glossy toffee sauce and sometimes accompanied with vanilla ice-cream or custard. The cake is really moist and the natural sweetness of dates makes it a very irresistible dessert.

The recipe I have tried is the one from BBC Good Food. Instead of steaming, this recipe opts for baking. The result of baking has made the cake really moist, light and fluffy, which I think the texture is brilliant. Next time, I will try to steam, to see how different the texture is. Though the recipe calls for golden caster sugar, I have used normal one.

Medjool dates are recommended in the recipe. Medjool dates have been called the “king of dates” and the “crown jewel of dates.” The fruit is dried before eaten. What makes Medjool dates special is that they are exceptionally large, contain a large amount of “fruit meat,” and are extremely sweet. Each center of the date has an elongated pit, which is easy to remove.

The silky smooth toffee sauce is drizzled all over the moist cake, top with vanilla ice-cream is probably one of the best British desserts that I truly love! Forget about the calories! 😉

Sticky Toffee Pudding

Yield: 8 persons

Ingredients:

200g dried dates (Medjool) , stoned and chopped
250ml black tea (not too strong)
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
85g unsalted butter , softened
175g self-raising flour
1 tsp mixed spice
175g golden caster sugar
2 eggs , beaten

Toffee Sauce:
100g light muscovado sugar
100g unsalted butter
142ml carton double cream

Method:

1. Heat the oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Put the dates and tea in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Cook for 3-4 minutes to soften the dates. Stir in the bicarbonate of soda. Set aside.

2. Beat the butter and caster sugar together with electric beaters until pale and creamy, then beat in the egg, flour and mixed spice. Fold in the date mixture and pour into a buttered ovenproof dish or brownie tin. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until the top is just firm to touch.

3. Meanwhile, make the sauce by putting the sugar, butter and cream in a pan over a low heat and simmer until the sugar has dissolved. Cook until the sauce is a lovely toffee colour. Cut the pudding into squares and serve with the warm sauce and a scoop of vanilla ice cream.