sticky date pudding with salted caramel sauce
When serving dessert at a dinner party, the last thing I want is a complicated dish. Years of entertaining has me yearning for simpler recipes. If you come to our home for dinner, dessert can sometimes consist of fresh fruit with assorted cheeses and nuts. I have on occasion, purchased dessert from our local bakery. Our dinner parties usually last four to five hours (and on occasion longer) so there’s usually not much room left in the tummy for something sweet. Timing is everything and being able to make a dessert hours before our guests arrive, speaks to me. This recipe produces a slab of moist, date-stuffed pudding topped with a creamy caramel sauce. Whenever a sweet sauce such as caramel or toffee is mentioned, everyone suddenly has room for dessert!
Make this date pudding in the morning or even the night before along with the caramel sauce. All that’s left to do is whip the cream, oh and warm the sauce a bit if you like.
serves 6 to 8
1 1/2 cups pitted dates, roughly chopped
1 cup boiling water
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 cup self-rising flour (see note at bottom)
whipping cream, to serve
Salted Caramel Sauce –
2/3 cup butter, chopped
1 cup heavy cream (35% mf)
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 to 2 teaspoons sea salt
Preheat oven to 350f. Place the dates, water and baking soda in a bowl and allow to stand for 5 minutes. In the bowl of a food processor, add the date mixture along with the flour, eggs, butter, sugar, and process until well combined. Pour into a 9″ x 9″ baking tin lined with non-stick baking paper. Bake 30-35 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer. Cool in the tin for 10 minutes.
To make the caramel sauce, place butter, cream and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat and stir until butter is melted. Bring to a boil and cook for 5 minutes or until thickened slightly. Remove from heat and add sea salt. Stir to combine. Cut the pudding into squares, spoon over softly whipped cream and top with caramel sauce.
The Culinary Chase’s Note: Self-rising flour is not a staple in my pantry. But don’t worry, self-rising flour is all-purpose flour with baking powder and salt added. To make your own, all you have to do is combine 1 cup of all-purpose flour with 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Enjoy!
- 1½ cups pitted dates, roughly chopped
- 1 cup boiling water
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ cup butter
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup self-rising flour (see note at bottom)
- whipping cream, to serve
- Salted Caramel Sauce –
- ⅔ cup butter, chopped
- 1 cup heavy cream (35% mf)
- 1½ cups brown sugar
- 1 to 2 teaspoons sea salt
- Preheat oven to 350f. Place the dates, water and baking soda in a bowl and allow to stand for 5 minutes. Place the date mixture in the bowl of a food processor with the flour, eggs, butter, sugar, and process until well combined. Pour into a 9″ x 9″ baking tin lined with non-stick baking paper. Bake 30-35 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer. Cool in the tin for 10 minutes.
- To make the caramel sauce, place butter, cream and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat and stir until butter is melted. Bring to a boil and cook for 5 minutes or until thickened slightly. Remove from heat and add sea salt. Stir to combine. Cut the pudding into squares, add whipped cream and spoon over caramel sauce.
- The Culinary Chase’s Note: Self-rising flour is not a staple in my pantry. But don’t worry, self-rising flour is all-purpose flour with baking powder and salt added. To make your own, all you have to do is combine 1 cup of all-purpose flour with 1½ teaspoons of baking powder and ½ teaspoon of salt. Enjoy!