Date
Nigella Lawson's Sticky Toffee Pudding
- Prep time 25 minutes
- Cook time 35 minutes
- makes 9 Generous Slabs
Author Notes
"The Lake District has given us many great things: some of the most beautiful scenery in the British Isles, William Wordsworth, Grasmere Gingerbread, and the glory that is Sticky Toffee Pudding.
My STP is altogether deeper and darker than the original version: it is still sweet, but the dark brown sugar and molasses give it an almost savage intensity. It seems redolent of ginger, cloves, allspice—and yet none of these spices are used. It's a miracle. I don't understand it—but then, miracles are not to be questioned.
It shouldn't be eaten piping hot, but warm; once the sponge has been topped with a glaze of the sauce, and had its 30 minutes' waiting time, it will be at optimum temperature. And cold—should you have any leftovers—a slab of it cut from the dish tastes like the most magnificent sticky gingerbread.
You will find it easier to measure out the molasses if you run your spoon under a hot tap first."—Nigella Lawson
—Food52
Test Kitchen Notes
Recipe from “At My Table: A Celebration of Home Cooking ” © 2018 by Nigella Lawson
Appears in episode 3 of our series, "It's Fine" featuring Tess Gigone.
—Food52
Ingredients
- For the sponge:
-
7 ounces
soft dried pitted dates (approx. 15 large dates), roughly chopped
-
3/4 cup
plus 1 tablespoon water from a freshly boiled kettle
-
1 teaspoon
baking soda
-
5 tablespoons
unsalted butter, soft, plus more for greasing
-
2 tablespoons
molasses
-
1/4 cup
dark brown sugar
-
2
large eggs, at room temperature
-
1 cup
plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
-
2 teaspoons
baking powder
-
1 x approx. 9-inch square baking dish
- For the sauce:
-
1 1/4
sticks unsalted butter (10 tablespoons), soft
-
1 1/2 cups
dark brown sugar
-
1 tablespoon
molasses
-
3/4 cup
plus 1 tablespoon heavy cream, plus more to serve
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and lightly grease your dish. Put the chopped dates, boiling water, and baking soda into a bowl, give a stir, and then leave for 10 minutes.
- Cream the butter and molasses until well mixed, then add the sugar and mix again, beating out any lumps. Beat in an egg and keep beating—scraping down as necessary—until completely incorporated, then do likewise with the other egg. Beating more gently, add the flour and baking powder until you have a smooth, thick batter.
- Using a fork, stir the soaked dates, squishing them a bit, then pour the dates and their liquid into the batter and beat gently to mix in.
- Pour and scrape into your prepared dish and bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean.
- While the sponge is in the oven, you can make the sauce. Melt the butter, sugar, and molasses over a very low heat in a heavy-based saucepan. Once the butter's melted, stir gently until everything else is melted too. Now stir in the cream, then turn up the heat and when it's bubbling and hot, take it off the heat.
- As soon as it's out of the oven, prick the cooked sponge all over with a toothpick and pour about a quarter of the warm sauce over, easing it to the edges with a spatula so that the sponge is entirely topped with a thick sticky glaze. Put a lid on the remaining sauce in the pan to keep it warm.
- Leave for 20-30 minutes, or up to 1 hour is fine, then take to the table, with the rest of the sauce in a pitcher, and cream to serve.
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