Firstly, it didn't help with scrumptious ice cream with exotic flavours such as pistachio, cookies and cream, caramel praline, and green tea. Secondly, I am addicted to a new show called "MasterChef" and I am so tempted to make all the sweets. This is one of them and I can tell you that it is a bit too sweet for my asian tastebuds but rich and tasty nonetheless.
Sticky Date Pudding with Butterscotch Sauce & Almond Praline
Sticky Date Pudding Ingredients
180 gm dates, pitted and chopped
310 ml water
1/2 tsp bicarbonate soda
165 gm brown sugar
60 gm butter
2 eggs
150 gm self raising flour
Method:
- Grease 8 dariole metal moulds with melted butter. Preheat oven to 170 degree Celcius.
- In a saucepan, bring the chopped dates and water to boil. Remove from heat.
- Sprinkle the bicarbonate soda into the dates mixture and stir. Set aside.
- Beat the sugar and butter together.
- Add in the eggs into the sugar and butter mixture, beating well after each addition until the batter is creamy.
- Add the dates into the creamy batter. By this stage, the mixture will look very watery.
- Sift in the flour and fold until combined.
- Divide equally into the 8 dariole moulds and bake in a bain marie (water bath) with the water covering 1/3 of the height of the moulds, in a 170 degree Celcius oven, for 40 mins.
Almond Praline Ingredients
110 gm sugar
35 gm slivered almonds
Method:
- Melt sugar in a small saucepan without stirring until light golden brown and no sugar crystals are visible.
- Quickly pour the toffee onto a sheet of non-stick baking paper and sprinkle the slivered almonds over the toffee.
- Wait until the toffee sets before breaking it into pieces.
Butterscoth Sauce Ingredients
50 gm butter
220 gm brown sugar
250 ml whipping cream
1 tsp vanilla essence
Method:
- Place all the butterscotch sauce ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a slow simmer. Stir to combine.
To serve: Invert the hot pudding onto a plate, top with the butterscotch sauce and a piece of almond praline. Serve immediately.
Note: I had used 300ml cream simply because I didn't want 50ml cream leftover so the sauce was way too watery. This recipe was too sweet for my tastebuds so if I am to do it again, I'll cut down the sugar in the pudding to 90gm as I can always use more sauce if it is not sweet enough, and the dates are pretty sweet on its own.