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Tom's Hearty Date and Toffee Pudding

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!