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Sticky Toffee Pudding


This sticky date pudding is practically the perfect after dinner dessert for any occasion. A warm, sticky and chewy cake, with a coating of sweet caramel over a cold scoop of vanilla ice cream....life could not get any better 🤤 I think the special thing about this pudding is the denseness and moistness in it, which is quite different from what you would usually find in a cake, which is typically a lighter and fluffier dessert. This then made me wonder, what sort of things go into these type of cakes to make it so different?




I made this dessert for a small dinner party which my mom invited some of her friends over to. Of course, whenever there's a dinner part occasion, I HAVE to use it as an opportunity to bake something different and get more exposure (and more importantly to bake something and eat it fresh out of the oven 🤣). One of the requirements was that I had to bake something with the use of ice cream (gelato brought over by my guests in Venchi), so I immediately went to look for ideas of desserts I can make that would go well with ice cream, and to my luck, this was one of the first things that popped up.


  1. Caramel


When I started to make this, everything was going pretty well until I made the caramel. In the first recipe I used, it requested for me to make a caramel through a very slow process over heat for a whole 40 minutes. While I don't think this recipe is wrong, I soon realised that It had a lot of room for error, because if I did not stir it constantly enough or the heat was slightly too high, the caramel would burn. This observation was backed up by evidence...when 30 minutes later I realised my caramel was separating into clumps, turning black and producing smoke. With only 20 minutes left to spare, I started to panic, because this cake would be nowhere as delicious without a caramel sauce, and I had hungry people to serve. So I quickly searched up a few more recipes on my phone and found a recipe for a caramel sauce that could be make within 5 minutes. Using the remaining of my ingredients I had, I put all my hope in this caramel and thank goodness it worked!


2. Dates


If you don't know what dates are, they are a special kind of fruit (in my opinion, kind of represents a giant raisin), that comes from a date palm tree. They have a nice naturally sweet taste which is quite like caramel, being clear why its the perfect ingredient for this caramel based dessert. Thus, this cake has a very distinct natural sweetness coming from the dates, which have a soft spot in my heart for (just like the feeling that a moist banana cake gives you).


Another thing about dates is that it has a pretty high moisture content, which keeps the pudding moist and prevents it from drying out easily. This give this pudding the perfect desired soft and moist texture, which is also essential as its the most special part about this dessert!! In order to incorporate these dates into the cake, I had to blend them in blender until it formed a smooth paste with no more big chunks. This contributed to the chewy, sticky feeling that I got when biting into this cake which was SUCH a interesting mouth feel. Just like how you enjoy eating a fudgy, chewy brownie, this pudding gave the same vibe, which I (and I am sure you too) absolutely crave. Lastly, when dates are baked, the natural sugars in them undergo caramelisation, where the sugars turn brown and develop complex flavours (the rich-caramel like taste). Essentially, presence of

dates = caramel = delicious.


So in conclusion, dates are a absolute MUST in this recipe because they are the main ingredient that contributes to this distinct taste that defines sticky, toffee, pudding.






When this pudding came out of the oven, it was perfectly warm and slid right off the ramekin easily. Without any waiting, I quickly poured my warm caramel over the cake, so that it would soak up as much caramel as possible while it was still hot and fresh out of the oven. Then I got my sister to add a scoop of cold ice cream right from the freezer and topped it off with, guess what? more caramel.












As for my reward, I got to enjoy this pudding fresh out of the oven, and let me tell you...it is a DEFINITE crowd pleaser.


You could even sprinkle some flaky sea salt over this to make it salted caramel (which I regret that I did not do but I guess that means I have to make it again and include that this time).








 

Recipe Ingredients :

Cake

  • 170g dates

  • 240ml water

  • 120g all puporse flour

  • 1 tsp baking powder

  • 1/4 tsp baking soda

  • 1 pinch kosher salt

  • 56g butter

  • 150g brown sugar

  • 1 large egg

  • 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

  • Flaky sea salt and Vanilla ice cream for serving

Caramel

  • 300ml heavy cream (36% - 40% fat)

  • 100g butter

  • 1 tbsp black treacle

  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

  • 1/2 tsp kosher salt


Steps:

  1. Simmer the dates and water over a small saucepan until the dates have absorbed most of the water (approximately 15 minutes). If after 15 minutes, there is still water left in the saucepan, then drain out some of the water.

  2. Blend the dates in a blender/food processor until it forms a smooth paste like texture.

  3. Preheat oven to 180ºC and butter 6 ramekins (you can adapt this recipe to make the number of servings you want (:

  4. Combine dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, kosher salt) in a large bowl and whisk until evenly distributed.

  5. In a separate bowl, beat the butter with brown sugar until light and fluffy with a electric mixer. Then add in the egg and vanilla, followed by the date puree.

  6. At low speed, beat in the dry ingredients until just combined (make sure not to overmix) (take note that the batter will be quite thick)

  7. Evenly portion out the batter into 6 ramekins and level it with a spoon.

  8. Bake for 20-25 minutes in the oven until a toothpick comes out clean.


While waiting for the cakes to bake in the oven, make the caramel sauce.


  1. Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat until fully melted.

  2. Add in brown sugar and stir until incorporated, then pour in the cream, black treacle, vanilla extract and salt.

  3. Let it continue bubbling over low heat for 5 more minutes then turn off heat and let it thicken.

  4. When pudding come out of the oven, quickly pour caramel over it until most of it is soaked up. Then turn over the puddings, top with ice cream, more caramel sauce and some flaky sea salt

  5. Enjoy!!

If you have any more questions feel free to dm me on instragram and ask away. If you do end up creating this delicious pudding, post it on Instagram and leave me a tag (@nadzcrumbz)


xoxo

nadzcrumbz









 
 
 

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