Sticky Date Pudding

Ingredients

• 2 cups (480 ml) brown sugar
• 1 cup (240 ml) water
• 1 cup (240 ml) pitted dates
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 2 cups (480 ml) plain flour
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp mixed spice
• 4 eggs, at room temperature
• 1½ cups (360 ml) castor sugar
• 1 cup (240 ml) vegetable oil
• 2 tsp of vanilla essence
• 500 ml cream

Method

1. Place brown sugar and water in top of double boiler.
2. Over simmering heat, stir until all brown sugar is dissolved.
3. Remove from the heat, and set aside to cool.
4. Chop dates roughly, place in saucepan, and add sodium bicarbonate along with just enough water to cover everything.
5. Bring to boil, and simmer for 1 minute. It should froth up from the bicarb; when it does, remove from heat once foam reaches the top of the saucepan.
6. Set aside to cool.
7. Preheat oven to 180°C.
8. Sift flour, bicarbonate of soda, salt, and mixed spice together twice.
9. Beat eggs lightly. Add castor sugar and whip as for making a sponge; it should be really light and fluffy.
10. Fold in oil and vanilla essence, but don’t over-mix this as you’ll lose all the air in the egg mixture.
11. Fold in the sifted flour, sodium bicarbonate, and salt. Then, fold in the cooled date mixture.
12. Pour into prepared tin. Bake in oven at 180°C for about 80–90 minutes, not too high in the oven or the top will burn. Cooking time and temperature can be reduced slightly if a fan-forced oven is used
13. Test cake with skewer, which should come out dry. Remove from oven, and leave pudding in the tin
14. Use a skewer to create lots of holes throughout the hot pudding
15. Pour approximately 1 cup of caramel mixture onto the hot pudding; this will soak into the holes of the pudding
16. Slice into desired portions, and serve immediately with cream or ice cream.