Sticky Date Pudding with Cardamom Toffee Sauce
Whether you call it Sticky Date or Sticky Toffee Pudding I think we can agree it is delicious Winter comfort food! Made luxurious with a slick of Cardamom Toffee Sauce, and for an extra pop of flavour sprinkle with a pinch of sea salt when serving.
INGREDIENTS:
CAKE:
180g dates, pitted and chopped
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 cup boiling water
40g butter
180g caster sugar
2 eggs
180g self-raising flour
½ tsp vanilla essence
SAUCE:
140g brown sugar
½ cup cream
1 vanilla bean, split (or 1 tsp vanilla essence)
40g butter
4 cardamom pods, crushed (or ¼ tsp ground cardamom)
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 180°C.
Grease a 27.5cm x 17.5cm x 3.5cm brownie pan, or 18cm x 18cm square cake pan.
Line the base with baking paper.
FOR THE CAKE:
Mix dates and bicarbonate of soda in a medium bowl.
Pour boiling water over dates and leave to stand until cool.
Cream butter and sugar in a small bowl until light and fluffy, then beat in eggs one at a time.
Gently fold in flour, stir in date mixture and vanilla essence and pour into prepared cake tin.
Bake at 180°C for 25 minutes for the brownie pan (or 30-40 minutes for the square cake pan), or until cooked.
FOR THE SAUCE:
Combine sauce ingredients in a small saucepan, bring to the boil and simmer on low heat for 5 minutes.
Discard vanilla bean and cardamom pods, if using.
TO SERVE:
Serve pudding hot cut into squares with the sauce poured over and some whipped cream and/or ice-cream.