Sticky Toffee Pudding
England and Canada both claim to have invented sticky toffee pudding, and we while we won’t take sides here, we do love the image of a Canadian pilot with the Royal Air Force returning home from World War II and using maple syrup to create a delectable toffee sauce. “Pudding” here means any dessert.
Yield: All recipes serve 2 people
Chef Notes: Don’t be surprised if the date mixture puffs and sizzles once you’ve added the baking soda and salt! It will settle as it cools. We like to serve this dish with lightly sweetened whipped cream and a big pinch of Maldon sea salt, but you could also swap in crème fraîche.
Components
Date purée
Toffee pudding
Toffee sauce
Whipped cream, for garnish
Flaky sea salt, for garnish
Mise
Make date purée: In a medium saucepan, combine dates with water. Bring to a boil over high heat. Remove from heat, add baking soda and salt, and let sit until dates have softened and mixture has cooled slightly, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes. Using an immersion blender, carefully purée date mixture until smooth. (Alternatively, transfer date mixture to a food processor or blender and blend until smooth.) Set aside.
Make batter: Preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease a 8x8 baking pan with butter or cooking spray.In a medium bowl, whisk flour and baking powder to combine; set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together butter, sugar, and vanilla on medium-high speed until well combined and fluffy, 2–3 minutes, scraping down bowl as needed. Reduce speed to low and add eggs one at a time, letting each fully incorporate before adding the next one. Stop mixer and add flour, then mix on low speed until just combined, about 1 minute. Add date purée and mix on low speed until fully incorporated, 30 seconds to 1 minute.
Bake toffee pudding: Scrape batter into prepared pan and bake until cake has risen and darkened slightly, and a skewer inserted comes out clean, about 35–45 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack until cake is warm to the touch but no longer hot, about 30 minutes.
Make toffee sauce: About 10 minutes before you plan to serve the pudding, melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat until milk solids have turned brown (watch carefully!). Add sugar, salt, vanilla extract, and 1 T water, whisking until sauce is smooth and sugar has dissolved, 4–6 minutes. Remove from heat and whisk in warm cream to incorporate.
Finish
Pour toffee sauce over cake and garnish with whipped cream and a pinch of flaky sea salt.