Materials
Pudding
- 250 g chopped pitted dates 2 ½ cups
- ¾ cup water
- 1 tsp soda – bi carb
- 125 g Butter
- 1 cup Dark Brown sugar
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 3 eggs beaten
- 1 ½ cup self-raising flour
Caramel Sauce
- ⅔ cup Cream
- 50 g butter
- 1 cup dark brown sugar
Instructions
Pudding
- Preheat oven to 170°C. Grease and line a 20cm deep round cake tin.
- Combine dates and water in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir for 10 minutes until all the liquid is absorbed and the dates are soft. Cool slightly, then add the soda (it will froth).
- Cream the butter and sugar together until light and creamy.
- Add the beaten eggs and vanilla and mix well.
- Fold in the sifted self-raising flour until just combined.
- Fold in the cooled date mixture and mix well.
- Spread the batter evenly into the prepared cake tin.
- Bake for 45 minutes.
Caramel Sauce
- While the pudding is baking, make the caramel sauce: Combine all the caramel sauce ingredients (cream, butter, and dark brown sugar) in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir constantly until all the ingredients are well mixed and smooth.
- After the initial 45 minutes of baking, pour ¾ of the caramel sauce evenly over the pudding.
- Bake for a further 10 minutes, or until the pudding is cooked through. Test with a skewer – it should come out clean.
- Serve the sticky date pudding warm with the remaining caramel sauce and thick cream.
Notes
It’s a good idea to double the caramel sauce as it is very good. Be careful when adding the extra sauce for the final 10 minutes of cooking, perhaps only use about ¼ of the doubled recipe for this stage.