Sticky Date Pudding With Toffee Sauce And Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

Total Time: 2 hrs 45 mins Preparation Time: 1 hr 30 mins Cook Time: 1 hr 15 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 3
• 375 g brown sugar
• 125 g soft unsalted butter
• 2 eggs
• 500 g all-purpose flour
• 10 g baking powder
• 600 ml hot water
• 10 g vanilla extract or 10 g vanilla essence
• 375 g dates, chopped
• 500 g sugar
• 120 g water
• 500 g heavy cream (35 % fat)
• 50 g unsalted butter
• 800 ml full fat milk
• 200 ml cream (35% fat)
• 12 egg yolks
• 250 g sugar
• 1 vanilla bean, scraped

Recipe

• 1 soak the dates in hot water for 1 hour.
• 2 beat together the brown sugar and butter.
• 3 slowly, add eggs, one at a time, beating well.
• 4 sift together flour, baking powder and baking soda.
• 5 strain the dates and place in a food processor- process until chunky.
• 6 add the water back to the dates.
• 7 fold this into the butter mixture alternately with the flour.
• 8 pipe into moulds and steam for 15 minutes for small, individual moulds or 30-35 minutes for larger moulds.
• 9 if you don't have a steamer, place moulds in a water bath and cover with foil before placing in the oven.
• 10 bake at 180c for approximately 20-30 minutes or until done.
• 11 serve warm with toffee sauce and vanilla ice-cream (haagen daaz is a good brand if you are not making your own).
• 12 preparation of toffee sauce: dissolve sugar and water in a saucepan (use a pan that has high sides- when the cream is added, it will bubble up!).
• 13 use a clean pastry brush dipped in water to remove any sugar crystal that remained on the sides of the pan.
• 14 bring to a boil.
• 15 allow to cook (without stirring) until a golden colour is obtained.
• 16 slowly add the cream- be careful of the splashes of caramel and the hot cream.
• 17 allow to return to the boil for 30 seconds, remove from heat and stir in the butter.
• 18 refrigerate until needed or allow to cool slightly and serve with the sticky toffee pudding.
• 19 preparation of vanilla bean ice-cream: bring milk and cream to just below boiling point.
• 20 whisk together the egg yolks and sugar.
• 21 add some hot milk, mix and pour back onto the remaining hot milk.
• 22 stir continuously, cooking until mix is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon.
• 23 sieve immediately and cool down.
• 24 stir constantly, over a bowl of ice water.
• 25 when cool, refrigerate until completely cold.
• 26 pour into ice-cream maker and follow the manufacturer's directions, freeze until set.
• 27 remove from ice-cream maker and store in the freezer until required.
• 28 can be stored for 1 week.