Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Sticky Toffee Pudding


Betty Tia called me up last week to rave about a dish she had at a friend's house. She went back for seconds - which was very brave of her (when you see the ingredients for the topping, you'll understand). Her friend forwarded the recipe and didn't mind sharing.

This recipe should be accompanied by a warning from the Surgeon General - as it is disgustingly (and deliciously) bad for you. Consider yourself warned.


Sticky Toffee Pudding

Cake batter
1 cube butter
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 cups flour
1 pkg. dates (about 8 oz) (I prefer to buy whole and chop myself)
1 tsp. baking soda
1 cup boiling water

Caramel Sauce
2 cubes butter
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 pint heavy whipping cream

Cream butter and sugar until white. Beat in eggs gradually. Fold in flour. In a pan- bring the water to a roaring boil and then add the chopped up dates and baking soda. Stir the dates continuously until the kind of dissolve. You know the dates are done when it turns a dark color and looks awful. Add the dates to the creamed mixture and mix thoroughly. Pour cake batter into an 8 X 8 pan or double the recipe for a 9 X 13 pan. Bake 40 minutes at 350 or until a knife comes out clean. You may have to increase the baking time if you do a 9 X 13 pan. For the sauce. Just before the cake is ready mix all of the ingredients for the sauce together in a pan. Boil all the ingredients together. The sauce will not be thick. Poke small holes all over the cake and pour as much of the caramel sauce as you can over the top of the cake. Put the cake pan on a cookie sheet and put it in the oven under the broiler. Watch it carefully because it can burn really easily. When the sauce starts to bubble on top of the cake it is ready. Serve the cake in bowls with vanilla ice cream and the rest of the caramel sauce on top. Enjoy!

Verdict: Rich, rich, rich. I made a single batch and it lasted nearly three days...in spite of us liking it and Dr. van der Stevejinck having an incredibly strong sweet tooth. A small helping goes a loooong way. If you love caramel and the resulting sugar shock, this is a winner. If I am ever brave enough to make it again, I think I'd like to try making it in individual ramekins - I think that would help the curb appeal.


Nineteen year old son Alex: So gooey and delicious I could feel my arteries hardening as I ate it.

1 comment:

  1. I love making these kinds of puddings, but I only whip out these killer ingredients when I'm serving a crowd. My mother made a Southern version of this with prunes: my favorite cake of childhood. I still make it but I don't call it prune cake in public, using instead the exotic sticky pudding nomenclature.

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