Sticky toffee pudding

A quintessential British pudding, this is real winter comfort food, but we’ve also been known to wolf it down at the end of a Sunday lunch in May. The recipe here, to which I’ve made very small tweaks, jumped out to me on Instagram (@gastronomybyjonathan) back in January and has rapidly qualified for family-favourite status. A good vanilla ice cream is the perfect accompaniment.

Serves 8–10

Ingredients

Pudding

110g butter, softened
175g light soft brown sugar
4 eggs, lightly beaten
225g self-raising flour, sifted
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
3 tsp instant coffee
225g dates, stoned and chopped
Pinch of salt
275ml boiling water

Butterscotch sauce

125g butter
175g dark soft brown (muscovado) sugar
Pinch of salt
80-100ml double cream

You will also need a 20cm loose bottomed cake tin.

Method

Preheat the oven to 170 fan. Line the bottom of your cake tin with greaseproof paper and lightly grease the sides with butter. Encase the outside of the tin with foil, just to cover the lower part, where the join is, to catch any leaking batter.

Put the dates in a small bowl, sprinkle over the bicarbonate of soda and the coffee and pour over the boiling water. Mix and set aside to cool while you make the cake mix.

Using a wooden spoon or a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar. Slowly add the beaten eggs until combined and then, with a spatula or large spoon, fold in the sieved flour and the salt.

Add the soaked dates and their liquid to the creamed pudding mixture and bring together to create a runny batter. Pour into the prepared cake tin and bake for 1 hour 15 minutes.

To make the butterscotch sauce: combine the butter, sugar and a pinch of salt in a small pan and place on a low heat. Stir to dissolve and combine, then mix in the cream. Keep warm.

Serve the pudding with the hot butterscotch sauce and vanilla ice cream.