How To Bake Sticky Date Toffee Pudding

Sticky date toffee pudding

I now trust Jamie Oliver whole-heartedly. Having successfully attempted his fluffy pancakes on the first try, I thought his recipe for sticky date pudding would be worth a try, and I was right. What I like about his recipes is that, for dessert anyway, they are somewhere in between Gwyneth (Paltrow)'s healthy recipes and Nigella (Lawson)'s over-buttered,sugar-stuffed ones. 

I'm not quite sure how to describe sticky date toffee pudding. It's neither soft nor crumbly. It isn't intensely sweet but neither is it savoury. Like Jamie Oliver's recipes on the Gwyneth-Nigella spectrum, sticky date pudding is somewhere in the middle; but nonetheless elicits sheer pleasure at every bite. 

I baked this for my birthday dinner on new year's eve and I have to say, there is nothing more satisfying than sharing something you've baked fresh out of the oven with a group of hungry friends. 

How to bake it:

I baked this with the sole pack of pitted dates I brought back from waitrose in London. It's impossible to find pitted dates in Singapore so I'd recommend you buy some overseas if you study/are on holiday there. 

1. chop 225g fresh, pitted dates

2. cover with 200ml water and a tsp of bicarbonate soda, allow time to soften.

3. measure out 170g self-raising flour, 1/4 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp mixed spice and 2 tbsp cocoa powder/ovaltine

4. cream together butter, caster sugar and 2 eggs

5. add the flour mixture to the butter-sugar-egg mixture

6. puree the softened dates after draining half the water and add to the mix

7. Pour into a buttered, oven-proof dish (or just a silicone one) and pop into oven for 30-25 mins at 180degrees.

What it should look like after 35 mins. (If you added ovaltine powder instead of cocoa powder, it'll be lighter)

For the toffee sauce: 

1. melt 115g unsalted butter, 115g brown sugar and 140ml double cream on low heat in a pan

2. Stir on low heat for a few minutes until it thickens into a toffee colour

3. Pour half the toffee sauce onto a warm sticky date pudding

Serve warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and drizzle with extra sauce

When it comes to sticky date toffee pudding, dinner is just the appetizer to dessert. It's a terribly unhealthy thought, I know, but then I proceed to convince myself that the sweet dates replace most of the butter and sugar in the recipe anyway so it can't be that bad, right? 

Jamie Oliver’s Sticky Date Toffee Pudding

ingredients

• 225g fresh dates, stoned

• 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

• 85g unsalted softened butter

• 170g caster sugar

• 2 large free-range eggs

• 170g self-raising flour

• ¼ teaspoon ground mixed spice

• ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder

• 2 tablespoons natural yoghurt

for the toffee sauce

• 115g unsalted butter

• 115g light muscovado sugar

• 140ml double cream

method

You are going to love this pudding – it has a rich, fantastic flavour and the sauce is amazing. Fresh Medjool dates are best to use, but dried ones work well too.

Preheat your oven to 180ºC/350ºF/gas 4. Put the dates in a bowl with the bicarbonate of soda and cover with 200ml/7fl oz of boiling water. Leave to stand for a couple of minutes to soften, then drain. Whiz the dates in a food processor until you have a purée. Meanwhile, cream your butter and sugar until pale using a wooden spoon, and add the eggs, flour, mixed spice, cinnamon and cocoa powder. Mix together well, then fold in the yoghurt and your puréed dates. Pour into a buttered, ovenproof dish and bake in the preheated oven for 35 minutes.

While the pudding is cooking, make the toffee sauce by putting the butter, sugar and cream in a pan over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved and the sauce has thickened and darkened in colour. To serve, spoon out the pudding at the table and pour over the toffee sauce.

Follow me on instagram: @marytmy