Absolutely Sinful Sticky Toffee Pudding With Pecan Toffee Sauce Recipes

Steps:

• Heat the oven to 180C/360°F Lightly butter 8 x 3" ramekin dishes. I like to spray them to coat them evenly.
• Soak the dates in the boiling water for about half an hour to soften them. Add the bicarbonate of soda, vanilla essence and coffee mixture, mix well and allow to soak for 30 minutes more.
• In a separate bowl, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, then add the beaten eggs, a little at a time, and beat well after each addition. Fold in the sifted flour, again a little at a time, gently mixing through after each addition.
• Then add the date mixture. You should have a fairly sloppy mixture, it looks all wrong - but it is ALL right, I promise you! Divide the mixture equally between the ramekins, place them on a baking tray and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until well risen.
• Cool for 5 minutes, then loosen them around the sides with a butter knife and turn out. The puddings can be cooled and frozen at this stage. After freezing, defrost, pour the hot sauce over and re-heat to serve as instructed below.
• To serve:- Place the puddings in a shallow ovenproof dish. Heat the grill. Make the sauce by melting the butter, cream, pecans and sugar together in a pan, and stir well.When just boiling, pour HALF of the sauce over the puddings; and then continue to heat the sauce on a rolling boil until it has thickened.
• Place the puddings 5" below the grill and cook for about 8 minutes, making sure that the nuts and sauce does not burn too badly; you should have toasted nuts in places, with a sticky toffee glaze which is almost crunchy.
• Serve with the extra toffee sauce in a heatproof jug, chilled cream, custard, ice-cream, or just NAKED!

Steps:

• 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.
• 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, one at a time, until thoroughly incorporated.
• 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.
• 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.
• Remove cake from 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.

Steps:

• Put the dates in a bowl and cover with the 1 cup boiling water to soften, at least 5 minutes. Heat the oven to 350 and grease a deep 9-by-13-inch baking dish.
• Combine the 3 tablespoons butter, baking soda, a pinch of salt, Demerara sugar, 1/3 cup plus 1 teaspoon dark brown sugar, eggs, flour and vanilla extract in a food processor and pulse until just combined. Add the dates and 1/2 cup of the water to the mixture; pulse until nearly smooth (specks of dates should remain visible).
• Pour the mixture into the baking dish and bake for about 30 minutes, until just firm to the touch. (When the pudding has finished baking, remove from the oven and heat the broiler. Put the rack about 4 inches from the heat source.)
• Meanwhile, make the topping. Melt 5 tablespoons butter in a small saucepan over medium heat, then slowly add 1 cup cream and 6 tablespoons dark brown sugar and 1/8 teaspoon salt, whisking continuously until the mixture bubbles gently and comes together to form a smooth mixture; turn off heat.
• In another small saucepan over medium heat, make the extra sauce. Melt 3 tablespoons butter, then slowly add 1 ¼ cups cream and 3 tablespoons dark brown sugar and 1/8 teaspoon salt. Repeat the process above.
• Pour the topping (careful not to use the extra sauce) over the cooked pudding and place the whole thing in the broiler until it bubbles and looks sticky, 1 or 2 minutes (watch it closely). To serve, spoon into bowls and cover with the extra sauce. If you like, add a dollop of whipped cream.