Sticky Toffee Pudding
Sticky toffee pudding (or sticky date pudding) is a date-filled dessert and classic English-style pudding, consisting of moist sponge cake that is covered in a sweet toffee sauce. It is often served with fresh cream or chilly vanilla ice 9cream and is always a crowd-pleaser!
Ingredients for the pudding
- 200g pitted dates, roughly chopped
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 300ml boiling water
- 50g butter, plus extra for greasing
- 75g light soft brown sugar
- 75g dark muscovado sugar
- 2 free-range eggs
- 175g self-raising flour
Ingredients for the sauce
- 25g butter
- 75g light soft brown sugar
- 50g dark muscovado sugar
- 200ml double or whipping cream
- A pinch of salt
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/Gas 4. Butter an ovenproof dish – either a large traditional oval one or a brownie tin of around 20x30cm/8x12in.
- Put the dates and bicarbonate of soda into a bowl and cover with the boiling water. Leave to stand.
- Cream together the butter and sugars in a bowl until very soft and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, adding a heaped tablespoon of flour with each addition, then add the rest of the flour.
- Add all the dates and their soaking water and stir briefly to combine. Pour into the prepared dish. Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes, or until springy to the touch and slightly shrinking away from the sides.
- While the pudding is baking, make the sauce. Put all the ingredients into a saucepan, stirring until the butter has melted and the sugars have dissolved. Turn up the heat and bring to a boil, then simmer for a few minutes, until the sauce has thickened to the consistency of a light custard (that is it should coat the back of a spoon).
- While the pudding is still hot, poke holes over the surface and pour over half the sauce. Set the rest of the sauce aside. Leave to stand for a while – the pudding can be left for a couple of days and will just get stickier. Serve warmed through again with the rest of the sauce, also warmed through.
![](https://www.birchwoodhouse.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/tOFFEE-edited.jpeg)
Another of our residents’ favourite dishes is this hearty mince beef cobbler.