Sticky Toffee Pudding Cake

There are many places in the world where people like to say. "If you don't like the weather, wait 10 minutes." To me, Colorado still does, and always will, take the cake. We went from 85 degrees to SNOW in less than twelve hours!! It's taking a while to warm back up, and that is fine with me. It's time for sweaters and long-sleeved shirts already!!

We had a fabulous chilly weekend, perfect for staying home in cozy clothes. Saturday was grey, overcast, and cold. Sunday was cool, crisp, and sunny, so we went for a walk! Soft, clean, freshly-washed, pretty-smelling Bracken found the one pool of pond sludge hidden behind the cattails and proceeded to frolic in it.  *Despair* We let her splash around in the creek to get the gunk off, but she still stinks. I'm going to have to go wash her again after this... Dogs!!!

But back to the weather! Clouds make me happy. Rain makes me happy. I'm weird. Drizzly Fall days are my favoritest in the whole world; they make me want to splash in puddles and walk through silent, dripping woods and stroll under glowing fall colors for hours. Have you ever noticed how rain makes those colored leaves seem lit from within? I need to live on the upper west coast... or on a certain large island across the ocean... Where this dessert comes from, by the way! Classically English, and perfect for a chilly day.

Sticky Toffee Pudding Cake (from The English Kitchen)
Printable Recipe

6 Tb soft butter
1/2 cup plus 1/3 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup plus a scant 1/4 cup self raising flour
1 Tb golden syrup (or light corn syrup)
2 Tb dark treacle or molasses
(You can sub 3 Tb of light molasses for both)
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup pitted dried dates, chopped
1 Tb baking soda

For the Toffee Sauce:
1/2 cup light brown sugar
7 Tb butter
200ml heavy cream (measure with glass measuring cup)

Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F. Grease a 9 inch round or square baking tin thoroughly with 1 Tb of the butter, then dust lightly with extra flour, tapping out any extra.

Cream together remaining 5 Tb butter with the sugar. Slowly beat in the golden syrup, treacle, eggs, and vanilla. Beat well. Turn down to low and carefully beat in the flour until totally combined.

Place the dates in a saucepan with 300ml of water and bring to a boil. Cook for several minutes until the dates have softened and the mixture is thickened. (My family doesn't like chunks, so I quickly pureed the dates here. Blender or food processor should work!) Stir in the baking soda while still hot and immediately add this mixture to the batter. Combine quickly and completely and spread it into the prepared tin. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until the top is just firm to the top. Don't over cook.

Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool to warm.

To make the sauce, melt the butter and sugar together in a small pan. Add the cream and bring to the boil. Simmer for a few minutes until the sauce reaches the desired consistency. Pour half of the hot sauce over the warm cake, allowing it to soak in somewhat.

Serve the cake cut into squares with the rest of the sauce spooned over the top and, if you're brave, drizzle cream over it too!

You'd almost guess this is a chocolate cake, wouldn't you? Well, honestly, to me, it's better than chocolate. It replaces chocolate! When people take a bite of fabulous chocolate cake, and close their eyes, and make noises of deep satisfaction - that is how I feel about this cake. My love for chocolate mysteriously disappeared 6 years ago, and I have always been just the teeniest bit sad, but now! I am whole. :)

I don't like dates, but to me this doesn't taste like dates. This tastes like old-fashioned sweets, and deep decadent molasses-y goodness. Someday I'll have to order some treacle, just so I can try it truly authentically.

Well, brace yourselves, cuz I'm about to go a little crazy on ya...

Yup. Cream. I did. And oh man oh man, this is officially one of my top 3 favorite desserts of All Time. I want one for my birthday from now on.

Just look at those lucious drizzles of deliciousness!! By the way, that toffee sauce? Just make a double batch and drizzle it on everything. It's awesome.

It's a darn good thing I gave most of it away...

Okay, I have about half a dozen more pictures of creamy toffee swirls of beautiful cake indulgence, but I'm going a little overboard, so I'll stop now.

See?? This is why I should be British!! They have lots of rain and the best desserts!!

Shared at On the Menu Monday