One of my mother in laws favourite recipes is this one for Sticky Date pudding. As an ode to Mother's Day, we made a batch together.
Batter Ingredients:
- 150g pitted dates, chopped
- 1 teaspoon bicarb soda
- 60 g butter
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 & 1/4 cup self raising flour
Caramel Sauce Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 150 ml thickened cream
- 20 g butter
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius. Grease 6 ramekins. Place dates and bicarb soda in a heatproof bowl. Pour 2/3 cup boiling water. Stand uncovered for 10 minutes or until date are tender.
- To make the batter, beat 60 g butter and sugar until light and creamy with a handheld egg beater. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each. Add flour and gently fold through batter ( I tend to add the flour slowly and fold in, it will get tough to mix but make sure there are no flour clumps). Add dates and water. Stir gently until well combined. Spoon into prepared ramekins. Bake for 20 - 25 minutes or until cooked through when tested with a skewer.
- To make caramel sauce, combine sugar, cream, vanilla essence and butter in saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring for 3 minutes or until boiling. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes. Pour into pouring jug.
- Pour caramel sauce into the hot cakes when removed from the oven (poke holes with a skewer into cakes and pour in, repeat if all sauce is absorbed, but alter this amount if you prefer a less sweet cake).
- To serve, pull out cake from ramekin and serve with a scoop of good quality vanilla ice-cream and pour over more hot caramel sauce.
For dinner parties, I make these the day before and zap the sauce and cakes in the microwave for a minute right before they need to be served.
