The beauty of this pudding/cake is that the main flavor and sweetness comes from Medjool dates. This is a fabulous dessert and I swear there will be no leftovers.
Serves 8 (if you’re lucky)
For the toffee sauce
2 cups (500ml) heavy cream
1/2 cup (90g) demerara or muscovado sugar, or another dark brown sugar
2 1/2 tbsp golden syrup or molasses
pinch of salt
For the pudding
6 oz (180g) pitted Medjool dates, snipped or chopped
1 cup (250ml) water
1 tsp baking soda
optional: 1/3 cup (40g) candied ginger, chopped
1 1/4 cups (175g) flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
4 tbsp (55g) unsalted butter
3/4 cup (150g) granulated sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 tsp good quality vanilla extract
Preheat the oven to 350F (190C) and butter an 8 1/2-inch (24cm) porcelain soufflé dish (or similar-sized baking dish.)
Make the toffee sauce by bringing the cream, demerara or turbinado sugar, golden syrup (or molasses) and salt to a boil in a medium saucepan, stirring often to melt the sugar.
Lower heat and simmer, stirring constantly for about 5 minutes, until the mixture is thick and coats the spoon. Pour half the sauce into the prepared soufflé dish and place the dish in the freezer, and reserve the other half for serving.
To make the pudding, in a medium saucepan, heat the dates and water. Once the water begins to boil, remove from heat and stir in the baking soda. Add the ginger, if using, then set aside, but keep it slightly warm.
In a small bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
In the bowl of a standing electric mixer, or by hand, beat the butter and granulated sugar until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in the eggs, then the vanilla. (Don’t be alarmed if the mixture looks a bit curdled.)
Stir in half of the flour mixture, then the date mixture, then add the remaining flour mixture until just mixed. Don’t over-beat the batter.
Remove the soufflé dish from the freezer and scrape the batter into the soufflé dish and bake for 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with moist crumbs attached.
Remove the pudding from the oven, and let cool slightly before serving.
Serving: Spoon portions of the cake into serving bowls and douse with additional warm toffee sauce. Whipped cream or vanilla ice cream are good accompaniments.