I never got the fuss over sticky toffee pudding until we tried the one at the B&B we were staying in on the Isle of Skye. We ordered one for the two of us, took a bite, looked at each other in amazement, and ordered another, so that we didn’t have to share. We took our respective plates of warm pudding into the living room, and ate it in front of the fire, while it rained outside like there was no tomorrow. Now, there’s no fireplace here in our apartment in Bangalore, but if I make this sticky toffee pudding with little nuggets of candied ginger nestled inside, close the curtains, turn on the battery-operated IKEA candles, and have this playing in the background, it is cosy enough.
Now, you’re going to have to buy some treacle to make this, but I think you should, because after you’ve made this sticky toffee pudding, you’ll have some leftover to make Nigella’s gingerbread, which I look forward to all year long. This is the brand of treacle I picked up from Amazon, in case you’re interested. I’ve made this pudding with candied ginger because my sister got me a pack of it and I’ve been saving it for something special. But the pudding is lovely even without. If you’d like, you can add a pinch of grated fresh ginger to the batter. The coffee in the toffee sauce is a very nice touch, and while optional, I highly recommend it. I have some sachets of chukku kaapi with me, and I think the next time I make this pudding, I’m going to add a bit of it into the toffee. Yum.
RECIPE: Sticky Toffee Pudding with Candied Ginger
Ingredients
Pudding
200 g flour
100 g dates, pitted and roughly chopped
100 g butter, melted
50 g brown sugar
50 g treacle
2 eggs
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
25 g candied ginger, finely chopped (approx 2 tbsp)
Toffee sauce
100 g butter
50 g treacle
50 g brown sugar
100 g fresh cream
1/2 tsp instant coffee powder
Method
Soak the dates in 1/2 cup hot water for 15 minutes. Add in the brown sugar and mix to dissolve.
Melt the butter and set aside.
Toss the candied ginger in 1 tbsp flour and set aside.
In a medium-sized mixing bowl, mix the flour, baking powder and baking soda.
Once the dates are smooshy, transfer them along with the water to a blender, and blend until smooth.
Transfer this to a large mixing bowl.
Mix in the treacle. Followed by the melted butter.
Next, add in the eggs and stir to combine.
Now in batches, add in the flour mixture into the wet ingredients and mix to combine. If you have one, use a hand mixer for this step. You want to mix until the flour is just fully incorporated. In other words, don’t overmix.
Stir in the candied ginger.
Pour into a greased 8-cup baking dish.
Bake in a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees Celsius for 25 minutes, or until the top is golden and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Meanwhile, make the toffee sauce:
In a small saucepan, add the butter, sugar and treacle and melt on a low flame.
When fully melted, add in the cream, stir and turn off the heat as soon as it comes to a boil.
Add the coffee powder and mix to dissolve.
When the pudding comes out of the oven, prick the surface all over with a fork and pour in a little bit of the toffee sauce to cover the surface.
Serve the pudding warm, with a generous glug of toffee sauce and ice cream or fresh cream on the side.