Sticky Toffee Pudding and Sticky Toffee Cupcakes

This is a proper rib sticking hearty affair that will definitely make you feel a bit too full afterwards. Now, I have done this as cupcake size portions, because although the original recipe says that it serves 8 (cooked in a retangular dish), I realized that my way gets 24 good sized portions with pretty presentation and gives you thrice as many overfed satisfied guests for your buck, so to speak. So, either pour your mixture into a large oven proof ceramic serving dish, or like me, divide the mixture between 24 lined cupcake moulds.

Having used cupcakes portions, and having a few left over, I discovered that this sponge delicious in it's own right, so this Friday I am experimenting with a cupcake version that can been eaten as a cake rather than pudding - the sponge freezes like a dream, so if you have any left over, be sure to hang onto them (and defrost them with a unceramonous blast in the microwave).

STICKY TOFFEE PUDDING

Date Puree
375g dates, with stones removed
375 ml water

Toffee Sauce
600ml cream
300g sugar
130g unsalted butter

Sponge
130g unsalted butter
375g soft dark brown sugar
3 eggs, lightly beaten and at room temperature
450g plain flour
10g baking powder (sifted into the flour)
3g bicarbonate of soda (sifted into the flour)

Plus creme fraiche or good vanilla ice cream to serve.

Preheat the oven to 180 C.
Make the date puree: Simmer the dates in the water over a low heat for 10-15 minutes until they are soft and the water has almost evaporated. Process them in a blender until they are smooth.
Make the sponge: In a food processor or mixer, cream the butter and sugar with the paddle on a medium speed until it is light and fluffy. Add the eggs slowly , taking care the mixture doesn't separate (add a bit of the flour with the eggs to prevent this). Then fold in the sifted flour mixture slowly until smooth. Finally, add the warm date puree and mix well. Transfer your mixture to your baking receptacle of choice and bake for about 50 minutes in a dish, or 25 minutes in cupcakes cases or until the sponge is firm to the touch.
Make the toffee sauce: Whilst your sponge is in the oven (or before if you want to do as much prep in advance), pour half the cream and the sugar and butter into a thick bottomed pan and mix well. Bring the sauce to the boil stirring with a wooden spoon, and continue until the sauce is golden brown. This will take a while but persevere. When it goes golden brown, remove from heat, allow to cool slightly, and then whisk in remaining cream.
To assemble: If you've made cupcakes, remove the papers and arrange on a serving dish (a slightly lipped one is fine). Pierce the sponge all over with a fine skewer and the cover with about a third of the toffee sauce. Return to the oven at 175C for 10 minutes to warm through then remove.
To serve: Put the remaining sauce in a jug and heat (in the microwave). As you remove the sponge from the ovem, drizzle with a little more sauce and the serve at the table with the left over sauce on the side - encourage people to help themselves to extra sauce with thier pudding and a big dollop of creamy ice cream.

Now, if you've made these, then the above is the follow-on recipe of choice, as all you need to do is pour the leftover caramel syrup into some cream and whisk over a bit of heat to get your toffee sauce - a much faster option and worth considering to make the most of leftovers.

STICKY TOFFEE PUDDING CUPCAKES Follow the recipe as above (without the sauce), making the sponge with date puree in cupcakes.

Make the icing as follows:
Using your mixer with a whisk attachment, beat 140g of butter and 280g of sifted icing sugar together (you may want to add a bit more to get a good consistency for pipping). Add a few tablespoons of caramel syrup (either one you made here or a shop brought one is fine) and continue to beat. Taste and if overly sweet, add a squeeze of lemon juice to calm it down. Pipe onto you cooled cakes as desired.

Two treats from one recipe - I personally would use half as pudding and half as cakes, freezing the ones you don't use for later and recycling as required.