Sticky Toffee Pudding Cake

 I'm still on schedule!! Hurrah! I'm back, folks. Back in my blogging groove. Actually grooving at the moment too, headphones in and everything, listening to a rather odd mix of new favorite songs. Cheezy country love song, silly pop nonsense, awesomely random soul/rock/something... I don't even know how to describe that last one. Lets just say I need to learn the words FAST. We're still in single digits over here, but we saw the sun for the first time since Monday! Who is experiencing plummeting temperatures with me and who has yet to freeze? This week has been kinda fun, no one wants to go out at night when it's this cold and snowy, right? So all of our weekly obligations have been canceled left and right and we're all reveling in our natural homebody/hermit state. Watching way too much TV and, in my case, eating way too much of my favorite dessert of all time!! Yes, that would be this one, right here. I baked it three times, just to get it perfect. For you of course. Not so I could eat it three meals a day. All for the blog...

Sticky Toffee Pudding Cake (adapted from The English Kitchen)
Printable Recipe
High-Altitude adjustments in italics

4 Tb softened butter

3/4 cup plus 2 Tb dark brown sugar (minus 1 Tb)
1 cup plus 2 Tb all-purpose flour (plus 1-2 Tb)

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp baking powder (3/4 tsp)

*If you have self-raising flour and are not adjusting for altitude, use 1 cup plus 3 Tb self-raising flour and skip the salt and baking powder*
1 Tb golden syrup
2 Tb dark treacle
*If you can't find either of these, use 3 Tb of molasses. I had treacle, so I used 1 Tb of treacle and 2 Tb molasses. If you only have golden syrup, just replace the treacle with molasses. Treacle especially is really worth searching for in this recipe, it adds an amazing depth of flavor!*
2 large eggs (3 eggs)
1 tsp vanilla extract
200g pitted dried dates, chopped (about 1 1/3 cup tightly packed)
1 Tb baking soda (1 1/4 tsp)

Toffee Sauce:
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
8 Tb butter (I prefer salted, add a pinch of salt if using unsalted)
1 cup heavy cream

Pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees (410 degrees). Grease and flour a 9 inch round or square baking pan and set aside.

Place the chopped dates in a saucepan with 1 1/4 cup of water. Bring to a boil. Cook for several minutes while you make the cake batter, until the dates have softened and the liquid is brown and thickened.

Cream butter and sugar together until fluffy. Slowly beat in the golden syrup, treacle, and/or molasses, eggs, and vanilla. Mix until smooth. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a separate bowl. Add the flour to the batter and mix on low until combined.

Your dates should be nice and softened by now. Remove from heat and, if you LIKE chunks of dates, stir the baking soda into your date liquid. If not, like me, dump your date mixture in a blender or food processor and puree it really quick. Then stir in the baking soda and immediately add to the cake batter. Stir the date mixture into batter gently, just until combined. Pour into prepared pan place in the oven. Bake 25-30 (20-25) minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean or with a few crumbs. Shoot low and don't overbake!!

Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool in the pan until warm. (Don't worry if your cake is a bit sunken in the center. The only time I achieved a perfect dome with this cake was when I overbaked it. Trust me, you'd rather have it a bit concave than overdone!)

To make the sauce, melt the butter and sugar together in a small pan on medium heat. Add the cream and bring to a boil. Simmer for a few minutes until the sauce darkens and thickens a bit. Pour half of the hot sauce over the warm cake (still in the pan), allowing it to soak in somewhat. Serve the rest with the cake. A drizzle of cream over the top is pretty awesome too!

I'm sorry, I'm so sorry (ha, name that fandom quote! Sorry, my nerd is showing) but look at my lighting!!! I didn't have to play with the color at all! Hooray for my bay window food photography studio! Now. You could just serve this dessert American style, topped with toffee sauce, which should be plenty, right??

 But if you want to go full-on classic British indulgence, you've got to have it nice and warm with a drizzle of cream. The Geologist doesn't get it, but then he won't bother heating his serving up either, so he isn't allowed an opinion. Trust me, and try it warmed with cream. It's insanely good!!

So why is this my favorite dessert in the history of dessert? I'm not entirely sure. I'm not a fan of dates at all, but they do something amazing to this cake. It's rich, and dark, with just the teensiest hint of bitter from the molasses (or treacle, holy moly) and dark brown sugar, which is basically more molasses, it's sooo soft and a bit dense, completely homey and satisfying. Basically, if you don't like molasses, you won't like this cake. It reminds me of gingerbread and frosty winter holidays.

But it's not just molasses! Top it with that gorgeous, buttery toffee sauce and, if you're brave, a drizzle of cream and it turns into gooey, sticky, spoonfuls of deep, dark, creamy toffee deliciousness. Seriously. The fact that it's a classic British dessert might have just a leetle bit to do with my obsession, but even if it was from Timbuktu (no offense to Timbuktu) it would still be my favorite dessert ever.

Shared at Foodie Friday and Treasure Box Tuesday