← Nouns Cooking · British & Irish

Ingredients

• 200 g dates (Medjool are best), stoned and chopped
• 250 ml boiling water (or hot black tea)
• 1 tsp Bicarbonate of soda
• 85 g butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
• 150 g light soft brown or golden caster sugar
• 2 Eggs
• 1 tsp Vanilla extract
• 175 g Self-raising flour
• 150 g light or dark muscovado sugar
• 100 g Butter
• 250 ml double cream
• 1 pinch Salt

Method

1. Put the dates in a bowl, pour over the boiling water and stir in the bicarbonate of soda (it will foam). Leave for 10 min, then mash or blitz to a rough purée.
2. Heat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan, 350°F) and butter a baking dish about 20 × 20 cm.
3. Beat the softened butter and sugar for 3 min until pale and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time with the vanilla, then fold in the flour, followed by the date mixture. The batter will be loose; that is right.
4. Pour into the dish and bake for 30–35 min until risen, springy and a skewer comes out clean.
5. Meanwhile, put the muscovado, butter, salt and half the cream in a pan over medium heat. Stir until the sugar dissolves, then let it bubble for 3 min until it darkens. Stir in the rest of the cream.
6. Prick the warm pudding all over with a skewer and pour over a third of the sauce. Leave it to soak in for 10 min, then serve in squares with the remaining hot sauce and cream, custard or ice cream.

Tips

• Bake and sauce it a day ahead, then reheat covered at 180°C for 20 minutes: it only gets stickier.
• The sauce is very hot when it bubbles, so keep small helpers back from the pan.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

BBC Good Food Olive Magazine Jamie Oliver