In medieval times, pudding was typically savory, consisting of suet and
bread crumbs. A fondness for warm, sweet puddings didn’t evolve until the
mid-17th century, and it’s difficult to pinpoint the exact moment when
sticky toffee joined the pudding canon. The most commonly accepted story
suggests that around 1960 the late Francis Coulson, a self-taught chef and
hotelier, created and served the sticky toffee pudding – he called it “icky
sticky toffee sponge” – that we may consume today at his Sharrow Bay Country
House Hotel outside of Penrith, just below the Scottish border. Certainly,
Coulson can be credited with refining and popularizing the toothsome dish –
though his protégé and longtime chef Juan Martin says Coulson once intimated
that he might have borrowed the idea from a farmer’s wife in Lancashire. The
true origin of sticky toffee pudding remains a mystery.
Today it’s easy enough to find recipes for sticky toffee pudding in most
British cookbooks, but Coulson’s luscious pudding is well worth making at
home. According to his family and friends, Coulson took pleasure in passing
along his recipes to guests, and it would have delighted him to know that a
great many cooks have mastered his specialty on their own.
For the cake:
4 tbsp. plus 1 tsp. butter, softened
¾ cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
6 oz. pitted dates, chopped
1 tsp. baking soda
1 cup self-rising flour, sifted
1 tsp. vanilla extract
For the sauce: (these ingredients are available at The British
Shoppe)
For the cake: Preheat oven to 350, grease a 4’ x 8’ loaf pan with 1
tsp. of the butter and set aside. Whisk the remaining butter and sugar
together in a large mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add 1 egg at a time,
beating well after each addition. Batter will look slightly curdled. Set
batter aside.
Put dates and 1 cup plus 2 tbsp. water into a medium pot and bring to a boil
over medium high heat. Remove pot from heat and add baking soda; mixture
will bubble up immediately. Once the bubbles have subsided (about one
minute) pour date mixture into batter in bowl and mix well. Add flour and
vanilla and mix until just combined. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake
cake until firm when touched and a wooden skewer inserted into center of
cake comes out with moist crumbs attached, about 55 minutes. Let cake cool
completely in the pan. (Cake may be sliced and eaten and eaten with the
sauce at this point, if you like) Wrap cake in pan with plastic wrap and
freeze for at least one day. Transfer cake to the refrigerator to let thaw,
then unwrap.
For the sauce: Combine cream, sugar and treacle in a small pot and
bring to a boil over medium high heat, stirring until sugar dissolves, about
8 minutes. Reduce heat to medium and simmer sauce, stirring constantly until
slightly thickened, about 5 minutes.
Preheat oven to 300. Pour half of the sauce over the cake in the pan, cover
with foil, and warm cake through in the oven 30 to 40 minutes. Slice cake in
pan into 8 to 10 slices. Serve cake with some more sauce spooned on top of
each slice and with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side, if you like.
*If you’re too busy this holiday season to make this delicious recipe then
order Heinz Sticky Toffee Pudding from thebritishshoppe.com. It’s yummy
too!*
