Dalvay By The Sea Date Pudding And Toffee Sauce Recipes

Steps:

• Make pudding:
• Preheat oven to 375°F. and butter and flour an 8-inch square baking pan (2 inches deep), knocking out excess flour.
• Coarsely chop dates and in a 1 1/2- to 2-quart saucepan simmer dates in water, uncovered, 5 minutes. Remove pan from heat and stir in baking soda. (Mixture will foam.) Let mixture stand 20 minutes.
• While mixture is standing, into a bowl sift together flour, baking powder, ginger, and salt. In a large bowl with an electric mixer beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add flour mixture in 3 batches, beating after each addition until just combined. Add date mixture and with a wooden spoon stir batter until just combined well.
• Pour batter into baking pan and set pan in a larger baking pan. Add enough hot water to larger pan to reach halfway up sides of smaller pan and bake in middle of oven until a tester comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Remove smaller pan from water bath and cool pudding to warm on a rack.
• Make sauce while pudding is cooling:
• In a 1 1/2- to 2-quart heavy saucepan melt butter over moderate heat and add brown sugar. Bring mixture to a boil, stirring occasionally, and stir in cream and vanilla. Simmer sauce, stirring occasionally, until thickened slightly, about 5 minutes. Cool sauce to warm.
• Cut warm pudding into squares. Serve pudding with ice cream and warm sauce.

Steps:

• Line 9 - inch (2.5L) square metal cake pan with parchment paper or grease; set aside.
• In sauce pan, bring water and dates to boil; boil until soft and light caramel colour, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in baking soda. Let cool, about 20 minutes.
• In large bowl, beat softened butter with sugar until light; beat in eggs, 1 at a time.
• In separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and ginger; stir into butter mixture alternately with date mixture, making 3 additions of dry ingredients and 2 of date mixture.
• Scrape into prepared pan. Set filled pan in a large shallow pan; pour enough hot water to come 1 inch (2.5cm) up the sides of the pan.
• Bake in the center of a 350°F (180°C) oven until tester inserted in center comes out clean, about 1 1/2 hours.
• Toffee Sauce: Meanwhile, in saucepan, melt butter over medium heat; stir in sugar until dissolved. Add cream and bring to simmer; simmer, stirring occasionally, until thickened slightly, about 5 minutes. Stir in vanilla. Serve warm with pudding.
• (to make a head: Let pudding cool completely; cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 2 days or cover with heavy-duty foil and freeze for up to 2 weeks. Let sauce cool; cover and refrigerate for up to 2 days).

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F (180 °C). Line an 8-inch (20 cm) square baking pan with parchment paper. Half-fill a larger baking pan with hot water.
• For the pudding, chop the dates coarsely, place them in a small saucepan with the water and bring to a boil for 5 minutes. Remove the saucepan from the heat, mix in the baking soda and let stand for 20 minutes.
• In a bowl, cream together the butter and sugar, adding the eggs one by one, mixing well after each addition.
• In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, ground ginger and salt. Use a spoon to work this into the egg mixture. Finally, add the date mixture and combine all the ingredients well.
• Pour the mix into the prepared baking pan and sit the pan in the water bath. Bake for 20 minutes, then reduce to oven temperature to 300°F (150 °C) until the cake is cooked, 25 more minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the middle. Cut in 8 squares.
• For the toffee sauce, melt the butter and dissolve the sugar in it over medium heat. Add the cream and, if using the vanilla and rum, simmer for 5 minutes until thickened slightly, stirring just to incorporate.
• Serve the pudding warm with warm toffee sauce and vanilla ice cream. The pudding can be made ahead and kept refrigerated until needed. It can be reheated by steamer, or lightly microwaved before serving.