Sticky Date & Chocolate Pudding

You know that comfy feeling of having a dessert with warm caramel sauce, well this pudding just does that. Serve the cake at room temperature, make sure the caramel sauce is served warm over your cake and if you like, finish it off with ice-cream and more sauce on top. This cake is also lovely made into cupcakes, so moist and packs well. The addition of cocoa gives it a slight chocolate taste.

Serves: 8

Ingredients

250g pitted dates, chopped
1 cup water
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp vanilla
150g butter
1 cup caster sugar
2 eggs
1 ¼ cups self raising flour, sifted
3 tbsp baking cocoa, sifted
Caramel Sauce
225g brown sugar
180 ml cream
180g unsalted butter

Method

Sticky Date Pudding:
1. Place dates and water into a small saucepan. Bring to the boil, uncovered over a medium heat, turn heat down and allow to simmer 10 minutes or until dates are soft and liquid has been absorbed. Cool and stir in bicarbonate of soda and vanilla.
2. Preheat oven 180oC. Grease and line 28cm x 18cm lamington tin with non stick baking paper.
3. Using an electric mixer, cream butter and caster sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Fold in date mixture and combined mixture of sifted flour and sifted caking cocoa. Spread evenly into prepared tin. Bake 30 – 35 minutes, or until cooked when tested with a skewer. Cool slightly before removing from tin.
4. Serve warm drizzled with caramel sauce, extra dates whipped cream.

Caramel Sauce:
Put all sauce ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat, stir until smooth, then boil for 3 minutes. Keep warm.

If you make the sauce in advance, keep covered in the fridge and reheat over low heat to serve.