Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Sticky Toffee Pudding-or Heaven on Earth

Before I go on an extended description of the transcendental nature of this dessert hitting your taste buds and removing, momentarily, all sorrow and pain--let me explain something. Pudding  in the dialect of the Britons is not the Jell-O-packet concoction that we Americans think of. Pudding is essentially the word for cake.
  Now that there is more clarity on the name of this  loveliness, I will begin to explain what this particular pudding is all about. I first tried this pudding while studied abroad in Scotland. So, this treat is not just a dessert for me; it is the entrance to memory--memory of a land I adore. Needless to say, I had very high expectations for this dessert and this recipe succeeded. Imagine rich caramel sauce with layers of flavor poured abundantly over a moist, warm spiced cake and you have Sticky Toffee Pudding. As I took my first spoonful of the sticky toffee (the sauce was done before the cake was fully cooked), I kept saying again and again to myself, I can't believe this tastes this good; I can't believe I cooked this. It is one of those recipes that you feel like has come from a restaurant with a skilled chef at its head. The best part is that anyone can make this cake. There is nothing super hard about any of it. The only thing for you to do is mix it up real quick, sit back, relax, smell the ambrosial aromas swell within your kitchen, and then forget about all the sugar and butter that is in it.
Cheers!

Sticky Toffee Pudding
(recipe from http://www.recipezaar.com/recipe/Udny-Arms-Sticky-Toffee-Pudding-113993)

Ingredients

Pudding

  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 2 cups powdered sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 3 cups flour
  • 8 ounces dates (pitted and cut into pieces)
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 2 cups boiling water

Sauce

  • 1 cup butter
  • 2 3/4 cups brown sugar
  • 1 pint whipping cream

Directions

For the Pudding:.

  1. Cream butter and sugar until white and fluffy.[Yes, it is correct that you are using powdered sugar, and yes, you are essentially making icing here.]
  2. Beat in eggs gradually.
  3. Fold in flour. [The consistency is a dry dough, kind of like a pastry.]
  4. In a separate bowl pour the boiling water over the dates and soda.
  5. When water is absorbed, add other ingredients and cream mixture.[There is a lot of water still left over. When it says "water is absorbed" it means that the dates have plumped up not that the water is removed.]
  6. Bake in 9" x 13" cake pan in moderate hot oven (350 F) for 40 minutes. 
For the Sauce:
  1. Mix all ingredients and bring to a boil.
  2. Poke holes in top of cake and pour half of mixture over top, allowing sauce to soak into cake.
  3. Brown under grill before serving.
  4. Keep remaining sauce hot and spoon onto still warm pieces of cake cut into 3" squares.
  5. Top with whipped cream. [The cake is just fine without whipped cream, but it is very rich. This would taste delicious with vanilla ice cream. There is plenty of extra sauce to pour over ice cream.]

This cake is so good; I hope any readers out there will try this cake. It is a definite on my bakery list. Please enjoy!

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