Stickiest toffee pudding

My husband Christian has spent many years looking for the perfect sticky toffee pudding, it's his absolute favourite dessert. We must have eaten hundreds of variations of this devilish dessert all over the globe in our time, if it's on the menu he will order it. 

I have to say, I've enjoyed the Michelin versions of deconstructed, aerated, toffee goodness, however, for me nothing beats the traditional  sticky sponge and butterscotch sauce. I have seen many recipes for the pudding over the years, including ones where you freeze the sauce in the cooking dish prior to adding the batter and baking, there's no need for complicated methods, my version is super quick, easy, and it tastes mega! 

Ingredients

100g stoned dates, 100g brown sugar, 2 eggs, 100g butter, 200g self raising flour, 1 heaped tsp baking powder, hot water, splash milk, 1/4 tsp each of clove powder, all spice and cinnamon, 1tsp vanilla extract, 1 tbsp dark coco powder. 

Pre heat the oven to 180 Celsius. 

Chop the dates and put in a bowl, scantly cover with boiling water and let rest aside. 

Beat the butter and sugar together until smooth and the sugar looks less granular, add the spices and vanilla. Beat the eggs and gradually add to the mix stirring in between each addition. Add the flour, baking powder, coco powder and dates including their soaking water and using a spatula fold it all together as quickly as you can until it's thoroughly combined. If the mixture is a little thick use a splash of milk to losen it, the mix should be soft and drop off smoothly with a satisfying "pluff" noise.

Butter a baking dish really thoroughly and add your batter. Cover loosely with foil and cook in the oven for 30 minutes. Then remove the foil and cook for a further 30 minutes. To check if it's done insert a skewer or sharp knife to the centre of the dish, if it comes out clean it's done, if it comes out with batter on it pop it back in the oven for a further 10 minutes. 

Now for the butterscoth sauce: 

Ingredients

Medium size pot double cream, 4 heaped tbsp brown sugar, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 2 tbsp butter. 

Place the cream, sugar and vanilla in to a pan and heat, stirring until it gently simmers. Next add the butter and gently beat with a whisk until well combined. Simmer gently for a further 5 minutes and your sauce is done. 

Spoon generous portions of your toffee sponge in to a bowl, drizzle over a good amount of butterscoth sauce and serve with either clotted cream or ice cream, heavenly!