Blog

Ingredients;

150g rum Vanilla bean paste (optional) 250g pitted dates

125g softened butter

125g soft dark brown sugar

150g plain white flour

2tsp bicarbonate of soda

· Bring to a boil:

250g water

150g rum (I used a golden spiced pineapple rum, but the darkest rum is best) Vanilla (I used a teaspoon of vanilla bean paste, but you can easily omit the vanilla full set stop)

· Whilst it comes to the bubble, chop:

250g pitted dates

· When the liquid has come to the boil, pour into the dates and leave for at least 10min

· Beat together:

125g softened butter

125g soft dark brown sugar

Here, I grated the butter straight from the fridge as the very first thing to do. Then I added the sugar. There are two types of sugar here as I ran out midway - but either is fine!

· Beat until fluffy and light.

Add three eggs, beating each egg in before adding the next...

· Add to the mixture:

150g plain white flour

2tsp bicarbonate of soda

It's important to sift these in

· Then be a beast with the beaters and mix it in!

· Add your date and rum mixture which should be COOL 😎. If it's too hot, you messed up!! Next time pour the hot mixture into a shallow bowl to cool quickly

· Fold it in with a spatula or metal spoon

· Pour into ramekins, or you can put it in a larger cake tin of you like. It's quite robust, so no worries either way. If you're using a cake tin, fill to about 1.5" otherwise it'll take an age to cook

· Bake in preheated oven (180C).

These took about 25min

I checked them after 15min. If you fill the ramekins/cake tin with less mixture, the time baking will be markedly different

· Leave to cool for 10min or so on a wire rack in the tin. Turn out

· Serve with toffee sauce and banana. I like a bit of texture, so dried banana chips are a thing

This recipe was inspired by Tom Kerridge's book: Proper Pub Food.

If you’re brave enough to make your own toffee sauce… You’ll need;

100g butter

100g demerara sugar

2tsp black treacle

2tsp golden syrup 300ml double cream

· Heat, and boil until golden in colour

· Take off the heat and add the double cream

· Stir continually, be careful - it's hotter than the sun and may spit

· Add salt to taste

· Enjoy!