Sticky Toffee Pudding
It's hard to go wrong with a Sticky Toffee Pudding, it is one of those desserts that everyone can enjoy! It is of course gluten free as always but also works perfectly with normal plain flour as well.
And as the weather gets colder, it calls for something a little bit moreish with extra hot caramel sauce! It goes perfectly with some vanilla ice cream.
Yield: 12-14 portions
Tin size: 25cm Square
Cooking time: 40-50 minutes
Temperature: 160°C Fan
Caramel Sauce
475g Caster Sugar
2 tbsp Black Treacle
300g Cream
425g Cold Salted Butter, Diced
Method:
Using a heavy based saucepan on a medium heat, add a large spoonful of sugar at a time until caramelizes and turns golden in colour.
As each spoonful of sugar caramelizes, add another heaped spoonful. Don't stir the pot, tilt or turn the pot side to side if there are spots of sugar not caramelizing.
Add the last spoonful of sugar with the treacle. Keep a close eye at this point as it could easily burn. Add half the cream to the pot when all of the sugar is an even golden amber colour.
Stir the caramel at this point and add the rest of the cream. Bring it up the the boil, return to a medium heat and cook out for about 10 minutes. Test the texture by putting a drop of the caramel on the counter, it should be firm and not runny.
Once that texture is achieved, remove the caramel from the heat and let it cool for about 10 minutes.
Hand blend in the cold diced butter piece by piece. The caramel should become glossy, thick and beautifully emulsified. Set aside while you make the sponge.
Sticky Toffee Pudding
200g Dates
350g Boiling Water
130g Demerara
130g Caster Sugar
1 tbsp Black Treacle
130g Salted Butter, Room Temperature
3 Medium Eggs
250g Gluten Free Plain Flour (Dove's)
1 1/2 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
Method:
Pour the boiling water over the dates. Let dates soften for 10 minutes and then hand blend until smooth. Let cool until reaches room temperature.
Preheat the oven to 160°C and put a oven tray filled halfway with water on the bottom of the oven. This will create steam and result in a moist sponge.
Line the tin with baking parchment. For tips lining the tin, scroll down to the bottom of the page.
Cream together butter, demerara, caster sugar and treacle until all the sugar is well combined.
Add eggs one by one. Mix together the flour and bicarbonate of soda, then fold the flour mix.
Fold in the date puree. Pour into the lined tin, tap the tin lightly to remove any air bubbles and bake. Remove the tray of water after 30 minutes.
Check the sponge after a further 10 minutes with a skewer or a toothpick inserted into the centre of the sponge and if it comes out clean, the sponge is ready.
To soak the sponge, warm up half the caramel sauce and pour it on top of the sponge. Put the sponge back in the oven until the sauce bubbles.
Reserve the other half of the sauce for pouring over each serving. Enjoy with some vanilla ice cream and lots of caramel sauce!
Tips for lining your tin:
Always lightly oil or butter the tin so the baking parchment has something to adhere to. (This won't affect your brownies) Cooking spray is also ideal for this.
For Square tins: Cut a rectangular piece of baking parchment the same width as the base and longer than the tin with enough excess to cover the sides and repeat,
Use paper clips or metal clamps to stop the parchment paper from falling into your brownie or cake during baking.