Sticky Date Puddings
The first time I heard the name of this dessert, I didn’t think much of it as dates are not something I am used to eating. Then about two or three years ago, I finally had the chance to taste this pudding for the first time, and well, as they say, immediately fell in love with it! And then of course I discovered that it is a baked pudding and not steamed, no wonder it tastes more like a sponge cake than a steamed pudding… and the sticky toffee or butterscotch sauce that goes with it is to die for!
Sticky Date Pudding is the Australian name for this wickedly sweet dessert, but in the UK it is known as Sticky Toffee Pudding. This light, moist and spongy cake-like pudding originally hails from the Lake District in the north-west of England. The well-known story is that proprietors Brian Sack and Francis Coulson (also the chef), of Sharrow Bay Country House Hotel – situated at Howtown Road, Pooley Bridge, Lake Ullswater, Penrith, Cumbria in England – were one of the first to introduce the pudding in their hotel in the late 1960s and consequently make it famous around the world. It is still being served there today as the ‘Francis Coulson’s Famous and Original Icky Sticky Toffee Sponge’. However in the past ten years or so, the small village shop in the Lake District’s Cartmel has become synonymous with the Sticky Toffee Pudding, as it is now regarded as the best producer of the Sticky Toffee Pudding in the world since the shop was taken over by the John's family in 1989.
The ingredients for the recipe are widely known today and most of the recipes I have seen are basically very similar. The sticky part of the pudding came from the toffee or butterscotch sauce that goes with the cake, thus its original name of Sticky Toffee Pudding in the UK… and then of course, dates are used to make the cake itself, thus the Australian (and New Zealand’s) name for it – Sticky Date Pudding. So if you have a sweet tooth but have never tasted this delicious dessert before, it is time for you to make it and judge for yourself, you won’t be disappointed!
Makes 6 individual puddings
[Ingredients]
200g (1 1/3 cups) pitted dates, chopped
250ml (1 cup) water
1 teaspoon baking soda
90g butter, softened at room temperature
150g (1 cup lightly packed) brown sugar, sifted
50g (2 tablespoons) orange marmalade
2 eggs
180g (1 1/4 cups) self-raising flour, sifted
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Butterscotch Sauce:
150g (1 cup lightly packed) brown sugar
250ml (1 cup) thickened or double cream
125g (1/2 cup) butter
http://cafeoftheeast.blogspot.com/
[Preparation]
1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease 6 jumbo (or Texas) muffin cups or any remekins of 1-cup capacity, and line a small round piece of baking paper on the bottom.
2. Chop the pitted dates, but not too finely, and pick out any remnant seeds if necessary. Place into a non-reactive saucepan (ie. no aluminium, copper or plain cast-iron) with water, bring to the boil and simmer briefly. Turn off heat, add baking soda and set aside to foam.
3. In a mixing bowl, cream butter, sugar and vanilla until fluffy. Add marmalade then add eggs, one at a time, and beat well after each addition.
4. Fold in sifted flour and dates (including the liquid).
5. Divide into the greased cups or remekins.
6. Bake for about 30 minutes. Wait 5 minutes before turning out. The pudding will be quite fragile, so use a small knife to run around the edges to loosen the cake before turning out. Remove the small piece of lining baking paper. At this stage, any uneaten puddings can be cooled then freeze.
7. To serve: Place puddings on a baking tray and poke some holes on top of each pudding with a fork. Drizzle some Butterscotch Sauce evenly over each pudding and put back in the oven for about 5 minutes, or until the sauce bubbles and turns sticky. Serve warm with remaining sauce and cream or ice cream. That is the tradition way of serving the pudding but if you cannot be bothered with it, just serve hot or warm with the Butterscotch Sauce drizzle over it. If frozen, heat it up in the microwave together with some Butterscotch Sauce before serving.
Butterscotch Sauce:
Combine all ingredients and stir over low heat until sugar is dissolved. Then simmer, stirring, for about 5 minutes.
[Variations]
Use dried figs or apricots instead of dates.
[Note]
1. Please note this recipe uses 1 standard cup of 250ml, 1 tablespoon of 20ml and 1 teaspoon of 5ml.
2. The size of egg used is about 60g (includes shell) unless otherwise stated.
Sticky Date Pudding is the Australian name for this wickedly sweet dessert, but in the UK it is known as Sticky Toffee Pudding. This light, moist and spongy cake-like pudding originally hails from the Lake District in the north-west of England. The well-known story is that proprietors Brian Sack and Francis Coulson (also the chef), of Sharrow Bay Country House Hotel – situated at Howtown Road, Pooley Bridge, Lake Ullswater, Penrith, Cumbria in England – were one of the first to introduce the pudding in their hotel in the late 1960s and consequently make it famous around the world. It is still being served there today as the ‘Francis Coulson’s Famous and Original Icky Sticky Toffee Sponge’. However in the past ten years or so, the small village shop in the Lake District’s Cartmel has become synonymous with the Sticky Toffee Pudding, as it is now regarded as the best producer of the Sticky Toffee Pudding in the world since the shop was taken over by the John's family in 1989.
The ingredients for the recipe are widely known today and most of the recipes I have seen are basically very similar. The sticky part of the pudding came from the toffee or butterscotch sauce that goes with the cake, thus its original name of Sticky Toffee Pudding in the UK… and then of course, dates are used to make the cake itself, thus the Australian (and New Zealand’s) name for it – Sticky Date Pudding. So if you have a sweet tooth but have never tasted this delicious dessert before, it is time for you to make it and judge for yourself, you won’t be disappointed!
Makes 6 individual puddings
[Ingredients]
200g (1 1/3 cups) pitted dates, chopped
250ml (1 cup) water
1 teaspoon baking soda
90g butter, softened at room temperature
150g (1 cup lightly packed) brown sugar, sifted
50g (2 tablespoons) orange marmalade
2 eggs
180g (1 1/4 cups) self-raising flour, sifted
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Butterscotch Sauce:
150g (1 cup lightly packed) brown sugar
250ml (1 cup) thickened or double cream
125g (1/2 cup) butter
http://cafeoftheeast.blogspot.com/
[Preparation]
1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease 6 jumbo (or Texas) muffin cups or any remekins of 1-cup capacity, and line a small round piece of baking paper on the bottom.
2. Chop the pitted dates, but not too finely, and pick out any remnant seeds if necessary. Place into a non-reactive saucepan (ie. no aluminium, copper or plain cast-iron) with water, bring to the boil and simmer briefly. Turn off heat, add baking soda and set aside to foam.
3. In a mixing bowl, cream butter, sugar and vanilla until fluffy. Add marmalade then add eggs, one at a time, and beat well after each addition.
4. Fold in sifted flour and dates (including the liquid).
5. Divide into the greased cups or remekins.
6. Bake for about 30 minutes. Wait 5 minutes before turning out. The pudding will be quite fragile, so use a small knife to run around the edges to loosen the cake before turning out. Remove the small piece of lining baking paper. At this stage, any uneaten puddings can be cooled then freeze.
7. To serve: Place puddings on a baking tray and poke some holes on top of each pudding with a fork. Drizzle some Butterscotch Sauce evenly over each pudding and put back in the oven for about 5 minutes, or until the sauce bubbles and turns sticky. Serve warm with remaining sauce and cream or ice cream. That is the tradition way of serving the pudding but if you cannot be bothered with it, just serve hot or warm with the Butterscotch Sauce drizzle over it. If frozen, heat it up in the microwave together with some Butterscotch Sauce before serving.
Butterscotch Sauce:
Combine all ingredients and stir over low heat until sugar is dissolved. Then simmer, stirring, for about 5 minutes.
[Variations]
Use dried figs or apricots instead of dates.
[Note]
1. Please note this recipe uses 1 standard cup of 250ml, 1 tablespoon of 20ml and 1 teaspoon of 5ml.
2. The size of egg used is about 60g (includes shell) unless otherwise stated.
posted by SeaDragon @ 30.6.05
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