Sticky Toffee Pudding

Tala's beautiful decorative cake tin elevates this really very simple classic pudding to new heights. Sticky Toffee Pudding recipes traditionally list dates as an ingredient. I puree mine because my children (old enough to know better) are not fond of pieces of date in their pudding but date-lovers may prefer to roughly mash the dates with a fork instead. You will need a big serving plate to hold all the sauce (if you don't have a big enough plate, place the pudding on a smaller plate and serve the extra sauce in a small jug).

For the pudding:

75g dates, chopped and stoned

200ml hot black tea (made with boiling water and 1 tea bag)

170g salted butter, softened

280g soft dark brown sugar

350g self-raising flour

2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

½ tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

4 medium free-range eggs

2 tbs treacle

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp mixed spice

4 tbs semi-skimmed milk

For the sauce:

50g salted butter

100g soft light brown sugar

150 ml single cream 

1 tbs treacle

Equipment

Tala Performance decorative cake tin

Small bowl (cereal bowl is fine)

Large mixing bowl

Silicone-headed spatula

Hand-held stick blender (optional) or fork

Small saucepan

Wooden spoon

Large serving plate

 Method

1. Preheat the oven to 150 degrees Celsius fan (302 degrees Fahrenheit).
2. Grease and flour the decorative cake tin and set aside.
3. Place the dates in the small bowl and cover with the hot black tea. Leave to soften.
4. Cream the margarine and sugar thoroughly in the large mixing bowl.
5. Add the eggs and mix again, then add the vanilla and treacle and combine.
6. Blend the dates and tea to 'smoothie' consistency.
7. Add the flour, salt, bicarbonate of soda and baking powder to the ingredients in the large mixing bowl and fold.
8. Finally add the dates-and-tea mixture and the milk and fold again briefly until combined.
9. Transfer the mixture to the decorative cake tin and bake for one hour.
10. Towards the end of the baking time, place the small saucepan in the hob and place all of the sauce ingredients inside apart from the cream.
11. Heat until the mixture is bubbling and no longer feels grainy. Turn off the heat and stir in the cream (take care at this point as the cream tends to bubble up).
12. Remove the pudding from the oven and loosen it slightly by running a palette knife around the edge of the tin and turn out onto a large serving plate.
13. Pour the toffee sauce over the top of the pudding and into the hole in the middle. Serve on it's own or with sour cream, clotted cream or vanilla ice cream.