Web exclusive recipe: Sticky toffee pudding

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Sticky toffee pudding

Web exclusive recipe: Sticky toffee pudding

Not so long ago, I imagined this pudding as an old English classic (well, at least dating back to the time when sugar made it to our shores), devoured by Tristram Shandy, Daniel Deronda and David Copperfield in his dotage. Yet this is a relatively recent invention. Despite claims to the contrary, Sicky toffee Pudding was not first conjured up by The Village Shop in Cartmel – although this is one of the best you can buy. But, according to Jane Grigson, by Francis Coulson of Sharrow Bay on Ullswater in the Lake District. There, the story goes, he came up with the original recipe that has been copied ever since. Even this, though, is open to conjecture. Chef Simon Hopkinson recalls Coulson’s admission, over a typically splendid dinner, that ‘There was this sweet woman in Lancashire … and such a lovely cook… Marvellous puddings! And, well, yes… there might have been a recipe published somewhere… But mine is much better, and we call our updated version the ‘Icky-Sticky Toffee Sponge’ to avoid any confusion!’
So perhaps the original recipe came from a Mrs Martin.
A few years later, her son, Piers, contacted Simon to relay the origins of his mother’s dish. Far from being some great national pudding, she actually got her recipe from a Canadian friend. The horror! Still, the British have quickly made it their own and the debate as to its roots detracts nothing from the utter beauty of this pudding. Don’t scrimp on the sauce, and please: no nuts or slivers of peel, no chunks of chocolate or glugs of brandy. Sticky Toffee Pudding needs no embellishments. This is certainly not my take on the recipe. Just the original recipe, in all its glory. Don’t mess with perfection.

Preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan/350F/Gas 4. Butter a baking tin about 20cm x 13cm (8 x 5 inches).
Boil the dates in 300 ml (½ pint )water until soft (some dates are softer than others, so will need more cooking), then remove the pan from the heat and drain any liquid. Add the bicarbonate of soda.
Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, then add the eggs and beat well. Mix in the flour, date mixture and vanilla extract and pour into the prepared tin. Bake for 30-40 minutes, until just firm to the touch.
To make the sauce, boil the cream, sugar and treacle together. Pour over the top of the sponge until it is covered (there will be some left over), then place under a hot grill until it begins to bubble. Remove, cut into squares, and serve with the remaining sauce and a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Desserts & pudding with Bill & Sheila

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