After little Tosh passed away last night, it brought me right home. To Sunday dinners at the McMasters, to roast spuds and cider gravy, to cuddling with the pups while watching Top Gear drinking a hot cuppa.
One of my favourite parts of Sunday dinner, is Col and my part, we bring dessert.
Normally, it’s a Sunday dessert that Col and I pick up at the grocery store on the way to his parents house for dinner. However, out here? It’s just a dessert we dream of every now and then, when the pangs of homesickness strike.
It’ll probably come as no surprise that Col and I absolutely ADORE sticky toffee pudding (we love most food really!) it’s not something you can readily find here in the sunny US – at least not down here in the deep South.
I decided, that surely it shouldn’t be all that difficult to make – right? I started looking around for a solid recipe to use, and low and behold, I stumbled upon this recipe over at Bon Appetit.
What with it being Christmas, I didn’t, in any way, try and reduce the syns. In fact, I didn’t even calculate them – and I don’t intend to either. There’s something gloriously indulgent about sticky toffee pudding, maybe one of these days I’ll look in to reducing the syn amount, however, that moment is not today!
I baked this cake for both Boxing day dinner with the Grattans, as well as for our ‘Second Christmas’ with the Van der Waals and Maddens yesterday. It was a hit all-round, and will most definitely become a regular pot luck offering from me, it’ll be made at special occassions (Easter is up next!) and when we go home, I’ll try making it myself now, instead of picking it up from Tesco in a plastic tub. Home made is the only way to go and Col has never been happier that he made me make this cake!
On my first pass, I used the recipe as-is, but the sauce was too sweet. Second time around on the sauce, I lessened the sugar content the second time around and it was spot on, next time I’d chop the dates up even smaller. Col tells me it’s better than any pre-packaged pud that he’s tried (but he has to say that!) but it has a no-fail rate so far!
- ¼ cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan
- 1½ cups sifted all-purpose flour plus more for pan
- 1½ cups chopped pitted dates (about 6 ounces)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon Sea salt
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- Sauce
- 1 cup (packed) light brown sugar
- ½ cup heavy cream
- ¼ cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
- 1 teaspoon brandy (optional)
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- Whipped cream or vanilla ice cream
- Special Equipment
- A 6-cup Bundt pan or 6 one-cup Bundt pan molds
- For the pudding, preheat oven to 350 °. Butter and flour Bundt pan. Bring dates and 11/4 cups water to a boil in a medium heavy saucepan with tall sides. Remove from heat; stir in baking soda (mixture will become foamy). Set aside; let cool.
- Whisk 11/2 cups flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat ¼ cup butter, sugar, and vanilla in a large bowl to blend (mixture will be grainy). Add 1 egg; beat to blend. Add half of flour mixture and half of date mixture; beat to blend. Repeat with remaining 1 egg, flour mixture, and date mixture. Pour batter into mold.
- Bake until a tester inserted into center of cake comes out clean, 40 –45 minutes. Let cool in pan on a wire rack for 30 minutes. Invert pudding onto rack. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and let stand at room temperature.
- For the sauce, bring sugar, cream, and butter to a boil in a small heavy saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly. Continue to boil, stirring constantly, for 3 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in brandy, if using, and vanilla. DO AHEAD: Can be made 4 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature. Rewarm gently before using.
- Cut cake into wedges. Serve with sauce, ice cream, custard...