Easy Food Recipes and Cooking - Spiced Sticky Toffee Pudding and Chai Custard
Serves 12
• 3/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 200g pitted medjool dates
• 150g unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus extra to grease
• 150g brown sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups (225g) self-raising flour
Spiced toffee sauce
• 115g unsalted butter
• 115g brown sugar
• 140ml pure (thin) cream
• Zest of 1/2 orange
• 1.5cm piece ginger, finely grated
• 1 dried red chilli
• 1/2 tsp garam masala
Chai custard
• Seeds of 1 cardamom pod
• 1 vanilla pod, split, seeds scraped
• 1 clove
• 2 tbs caster sugar
• 2 tbs good-quality custard powder
• 2 1/4 cups (560ml) reduced-fat milk
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Mix the bicarbonate of soda with 1 cup (250ml) water and stir. Whiz the dates in a food processor with a splash of water until you have a paste. Add this to the bicarbonate mixture, combine and set aside. You don't have to clean the food processor for the next step.
Whiz 150g butter and brown sugar in a food processor until smooth, then with the motor running, add the eggs, 1 at a time. Remove bowl from the food processor and fold in the flour, followed by the date mixture. Pour into a greased cake pan and bake for 25-30 minutes until springy. Check after 25 minutes and insert a skewer into the centre - if it comes out clean, it's done.
To make the toffee sauce, place all the ingredients in a saucepan and cook until the sugar dissolves, the sauce thickens and the flavours are infused.
Prepare the custard by bashing the cardamom seeds, vanilla seeds, clove and sugar using a mortar and pestle. Mix the spiced sugar with the custard powder, add a splash of milk and mix well to form a paste. Heat the remaining milk in a pan and pour into the paste, stirring well to combine. Return the custard to the saucepan you used for the milk and cook over a gentle heat, stirring continuously, until thickened. Serve the sticky toffee pudding with spiced toffee sauce and chai custard.