Luscious Sticky Date Pudding

Sticky Date Pudding that goes a long way

Recently I was asked to make a cake for my mother in law’s 90th birthday.   It wasn’t a large or flash affair.  She simply wanted to go to our friend’s cafe to have coffee and cake with family, about 16 of us.  She really didn’t want a fuss made at all so it had to be low key.  As it turned out our friend didn’t have a cake available for us so he said it was no problem to bring our own.  I decided that because it was the middle of winter we should have a cake that could be served warm or at least with a sauce that could be warmed.   I actually hadn’t made sticky date pudding (or cake) for a while and I put the recipe together from memory.  I made it slightly larger to feed the family.  And it worked! I even had a slice left to bring home.  Because it had dates in it my MIL loved it! She loves dried fruit.  It actually wasn’t as sickly sweet as it could have been so it tasted light.  There were accolades all round. This sticky date pudding will be one of my tried and true recipes to bring out for a gathering. It could be served with tea or coffee or as a dessert after dinner,

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Luscious Sticky Date Pudding

This is a beautiful cake or dessert that is rich but not overly sweet.  Using a 22cm springform cake tin I managed to serve 16 slices of this cake.  It is finished with a beautiful, velvety caramel sauce.

Course Dessert

Keyword Sticky date pudding, cake, caramel

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes

Total Time 1 hour

Servings 16 people

Author Jane Georgiades

Ingredients

• 250 g dates, chopped
• 1 tsp bi carb soda
• 1 cup boiling water
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 150 g butter, softened
• 3 eggs
• 2 tsp mixed spice
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 2 cups self raising flour

Caramel Sauce

• 300 ml cream
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 70 g butter

Instructions

1. Line and grease a 22 cm springform cake tin. In a bowl combine dates and bi carb soda with boiling water. Leave for half an hour. Meanwhile cream butter and sugar. Beat in eggs one at a time.  Add vanilla and spice. Fold in flour then fold in date mixture.  Spoon into cake tin and bake for 40 - 50 minutes. It is ready when you test with a skewer that comes out clean. Allow to cool slightly then dust with icing sugar.

   For the caramel sauce combine butter, cream and brown sugar until thick and bubbling.

   Pour over warm cake and serve or pour over individual slices of cake.