Sticky Toffee Pudding

Serves: 10-12 people

Time: 25 minuets preparation & 45-50 minutes cooking

Level: Easy

Ingredients:

For the sponge:

• 340g pitted dates

• 260ml boiling hot water

• 3 heaped tbsp black treacle

• 210g of soft dark brown sugar

• 1 tbsp vanilla essence or 2 vanilla pod seeds

• 260g self raising flour

• 2 tsp of bicarbonate of soda

• 3 x large free range eggs

• 130g of unsalted butter + extra for greasing

• 150ml of full fat milk at room temperature

For the toffee sauce:

• 200g dark brown sugar

• 200g double cream

• 150g unsalted butter

• 1 x x tbsp of vanilla essence or 1 x vanilla pod seeds

To serve:

• Vanilla ice cream or brandy custard

Equipment:

• 1 x large baking tray with high edges lined with butter (I used a 9x9" Deep Aluminium Foil recyclable container)

• 1 x spatula

• 1 x stand mixer with a paddle attachment (you can also make this recipe by hand if you don’t have a mixer)

• 1 x small saucepan

• Oven preheated at 180/160°c fan/gas mark 4

• Optional: A tray of water (roughly 500ml) on the bottom of the oven to create steam when cooking the sticky toffee, this will keep the cake extra moist! Put this into the oven for at least 15 minutes whilst the oven is preheating for maximum effect.

Method:

1. Take the brown sugar and butter for the sponge and cream together in a stand mixer.

2. Whilst the mix is creaming (until pale and fluffy) blend your hot water and dates until smooth. Leave the mix to cool down for around 10 minutes (place onto a flat tray to cool quickly).

3. Lightly whisk the eggs with a fork and pour into the stand mixer slowly whilst on a low speed.

4. Once the eggs are mixed into the sugar add the flour and bicarbonate of soda and mix on a low speed until combined and no lumps are visible.

5. Add the date puree & milk into the mixer which should now be room temperature and mix on a low speed until smooth.

6. Take your tray which should be lined with butter and pour the mixture in scraping all of the mix

7. with a spatula to avoid any waste.

8. Bake in the oven for 45 - 50 minutes, don’t open the door during cooking.

9. Whilst the sponge is cooking, take all of the toffee sauce ingredients and bring to a boil whilst whisking to avoid the mix splitting. When the mix covers the back of the spoon and is hot, it is ready to serve.

10. At 45 minutes, remove from the oven and place a knife in the centre of the cake, if it comes out with no raw cake mixture attached it means it is cooked. If it’s not cooked, pop back into the oven and cook for a further 5 minutes.

11. Portion the sponge to your liking and serve with hot toffee sauce and vanilla ice cream.