Sticky date pudding
Sticky date pudding is a dessert with spongy dates cake soaked in caramel sauce and served with cream or ice cream and of course extra sauce too!
Ingredients
For the dates pudding
- 280 grams pitted dates
- 1 cup boiling hot water
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 6 tbsp softened unsalted butter
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1¼ cups all purpose flour
- 1½ tsp baking powder
Caramel sauce
- 1¼ cups brown sugar
- 5 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1½ cups heavy cream
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
To prepare the caramel sauce
- Add all the ingredients for the sauce onto a sauce pan and let it melt and come together on a medium heat. Whisk so that everything combines. Let it simmer for 2-4 minutes.
To prepare the dates pudding
- Pre-heat the oven at 180°C for 10 minutes. In a large bowl, add the dates and the baking soda.
- Add boiling hot water to the bowl and let it sit for 10 minutes. (Alternatively, you can cook the dates till all the water evaporates and the mash it.)
- Mash the dates with a potato masher. If you want it to be smooth, then you can grind the dates into a paste too.
- In a large mixing bowl, add the softened butter along with the brown sugar and beat in medium speed until pale and fluffy.
- Add eggs, one at a time and beat until fully incorporated.
- Add the flour and the baking powder to the butter mixture and beat until fully combined.
- Fold in the mashed dates to the batter.
- Grease a baking tray with butter and line it with a parchment paper. Pour the entire batter onto the tray. Bake in a pre heated oven for 25-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Poke lots of holes all through the pudding using a skewer while it is still warm. Pour ¾ cup of the warm sauce all over the pudding and let it soak for 10 minutes.
- Cut into pieces and serve with ice cream or cream and extra sauce.
Notes
- The sauce will thicken once it cools down. So, it does not need to be cooked for a longer time.
- Instead of adding boiling water to the dates, you can also cook the dates in water until most of the water evaporates.
- You can also grind the soaked dates to a paste instead of mashing it.
- Brown sugar gives the real taste and moisture to the pudding. Do not replace it.
- Use dates which re sweet (like mejdool). I have used omani dates and this works fine too.
- Make sure all your ingredients are at room temperature to make the pudding.
- Instead of baking in a single tray, you can also bake separately in small ramekins for a single separate serve. Just adjust the baking time accordingly.
- Add the mashed dates to the batter and beat it until just combined. You can also fold in the mashed dates.
- Do not over bake as it gives off a very awkward egg taste if over baked.
- Poke lots of holes for the sauce to be poured on.
- Initially, you would feel that the sauce is too much. But, after sometime everything would be absorbed.
- I baked my pudding for 25 minutes. Check your pudding and bake it for 25-35 minutes (for a single batch) and for a lesser time for small, multiple batches. Alternatively, you can check and bake until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- The sauce and the pudding should be warm while pouring it.