Sticky Toffee Pudding with Toffee Sauce

This pudding is really a rich, moist cake with extra caramelly sauce. This is a wonderfully, decadent dessert that is perfect for these cold winter nights.  We had everything on hand except the dates, so we picked those up and whipped this up after dinner on Wednesday.  It tastes so good fresh out of the oven with lots of extra toffee sauce drizzled over it!

STICKY TOFFEE PUDDING WITH TOFFEE SAUCE

Prep: 25 Min

Total: 1 Hr 25 Min

Servings: 8

Ingredients

Cake

• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for dish
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dish
• 8 ounces Medjool dates, pitted and coarsely chopped (about 1 1/4 cups)
• 1 cup scalding-hot strong brewed coffee
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
• 3/4 cup lightly packed dark-brown sugar
• 2 large eggs, room temperature

Sauce

• 1 stick unsalted butter
• 1 cup lightly packed dark-brown sugar
• 3/4 cup heavy cream

Directions

1. Cake: Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Butter and flour a 2 1/2-quart baking dish. Place dates in a bowl, pour coffee over dates, and let soak 15 minutes. Stir in baking soda.

   

   Soaking in coffee

2. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Beat together butter and sugar with a mixer on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to medium and beat in eggs, 1 at a time, until thoroughly incorporated.
3. Reduce speed to low, and add half the flour mixture, beating until combined. Add date mixture and remaining flour mixture, and beat until just combined. (Do not overmix.) Transfer batter to dish, and bake until cake is puffed and springs back in center when gently pressed with a finger, about 25 minutes. [Ours was still a little underdone at this point, so we kept checking on it every couple of minutes before taking it out of the oven.]
   

   
4. Sauce: Meanwhile, combine butter, sugar, and cream in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium (so sauce does not boil over) and boil, stirring frequently, until sauce thickens and darkens slightly, about 4 minutes.
   
5. Remove cake from the oven and pierce holes at 1-inch intervals to bottom of cake with a wooden skewer. Pour half of hot sauce over cake and let soak 20 minutes. Serve warm with remaining sauce. Cake soaked in sauce and remaining toffee sauce can be stored at room temperature up to 1 day. Before serving, warm cake in a 300 degrees oven 10 minutes, and sauce in a small saucepan over medium heat.
   

   

So, it's noted that this can be stored for about a day - not sure if it has a longer storage life if you keep it refrigerated...but to be on the safe side, a little sticky toffee pudding for breakfast never hurt anyone, right?  The middle is the best part since it's extra sticky and yummy, so I may have ate this from the inside out. ;-)