flipSticky toffee pudding with caramel sauce
Sticky toffee pudding with caramel sauce
Why this dish? The moist sponge drenched in caramel is the ultimate British comfort dessert, served at tea time or to finish a Sunday roast. For a self-confessed foodie like Adele, who has always spoken humorously about her relationship with food, it is the comforting sweetness of home.
A soft, moist date sponge, smothered in a warm buttery caramel sauce, served warm. The quintessence of British comfort dessert.
Ah, now we're talking about my guilty pleasure! Sticky toffee pudding, it's a hug in dessert form, I swear. A moist date sponge, all soft, and on top you drown it in a hot buttery caramel sauce that runs everywhere. You serve it warm, never cold, and if you've got a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side, that's pure heaven. I say: life's too short to skip a good pudding, love.
- •Dates — a good handful (moistness, sweetness)
- •Flour, eggs, butter, sugar — equal parts (batter)
- •Brown sugar (muscovado) — generous (caramel sauce)
- •Cream and butter — equal parts (toffee sauce)
Sticky toffee pudding with caramel sauce
A soft, moist date sponge, smothered in a warm buttery caramel sauce, served warm. The quintessence of British comfort dessert.
Why this dish? The moist sponge drenched in caramel is the ultimate British comfort dessert, served at tea time or to finish a Sunday roast. For a self-confessed foodie like Adele, who has always spoken humorously about her relationship with food, it is the comforting sweetness of home.
Ah, now we're talking about my guilty pleasure! Sticky toffee pudding, it's a hug in dessert form, I swear. A moist date sponge, all soft, and on top you drown it in a hot buttery caramel sauce that runs everywhere. You serve it warm, never cold, and if you've got a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side, that's pure heaven. I say: life's too short to skip a good pudding, love.
Ingredients (period version)
- Dates — a good handful (moistness, sweetness)
- Flour, eggs, butter, sugar — equal parts (batter)
- Brown sugar (muscovado) — generous (caramel sauce)
- Cream and butter — equal parts (toffee sauce)
Ingredients
- Pitted dates — 200 g (moistness)
- Baking soda — 1 tsp (tenderizes dates)
- Flour — 175 g (structure)
- Eggs — 2 (binder)
- Butter — 75 g + 100 g for sauce (richness)
- Muscovado sugar — 150 g + 150 g for sauce (sweetness, caramel)
- Double cream — 150 ml (toffee sauce)
Method
- Soften dates in 250 ml boiling water with baking soda, then blend into a purée.
- Cream butter and sugar, add eggs then flour, fold in date purée.
- Pour into a mould and bake at 180°C for about 30-35 min until a knife comes out clean.
- Prepare sauce: melt butter, muscovado sugar and cream, simmer until smooth caramel.
- Unmould the warm pudding, drench with hot sauce and serve immediately, optionally with vanilla ice cream.
How it was made : Sticky toffee pudding became popular in the 1970s in the Lake District (notably at the Sharrow Bay Hotel), but fits into the long tradition of steamed or baked British 'puddings', hearty desserts born to comfort in cold weather.
The contemporary twist : Serve in individual ramekins, unmoulded and flambéed with caramel at the table, with a quenelle of melting vanilla ice cream.
Sources : Simon Hopkinson, Roast Chicken and Other Stories · Sharrow Bay Hotel — documented origin of sticky toffee pudding
Adele · Charactorium
