Chocolate Sticky Toffee Pudding!

I first made this dessert years ago, for a family Thanksgiving while I was in college. I was a beginner baker, and in fact this was the first occasion wherein I ever chopped dates. From then on, dates have had a hold on me and I will forever champion their degree and flavor of sweetness.

Unlike a layer cake or pie, sticky toffee pudding is the kind of dessert that doesn’t necessarily “show” well, but is invincibly superior as a whole, plated affair. As in every baking endeavor but perhaps especially here, balancing temperatures and timing is key—cozying up with warm, soft cake that’s dripping with hot toffee sauce and dolloped with cool unsweetened cream is winter evening perfection, I think.

Oh and! need to mention that while I’ve never met a sticky toffee pudding that I didn’t love, the chocolate addition here really makes this one particularly great. It’s the fudgiest cake imaginable without resembling a brownie, dense and yet nearly melts in your mouth. “Squidgy” is the right British term for it, meaning damp, spongy, and moist (in the best of ways!). I’ve also enjoyed it leftover at room temp days later—it seemed to have only gotten better!

Chocolate Sticky Toffee Pudding

serves 9 - adapted from crave: a passion for chocolate by Maureen McKeon

cake

• 1 1/2 ( g) chopped, pitted dates

• 1 t baking soda

• 114 g (1/2 c) unsalted butter, at room temperature

• 133 g (2/3 c) granulated sugar

• 2 large eggs, room temperature

• 170 g (1 1/2 c) self-rising flour

• 6 oz. (1 c) chopped dark bittersweet chocolate, melted and slightly cooled

toffee sauce

• 114 g (1/2 c) unsalted butter

• 140 g (2/3 c) dark brown sugar

• 240 g (1 c) heavy cream

• 3/4 t kosher salt

• 1 t vanilla extract

• splash of brandy

whipped heavy cream, unsweetened, to serve

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Butter a deep 8” or 9” square cake pan, and line the base with parchment paper.

2. Put the dates in a medium/small saucepan and cover with 240 g (1 cup) water; bring to a boil and simmer for 3 minutes. Remove from heat and add the baking soda. Set aside to cool slightly.

3. Using an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy, about 5-10 minutes. Scrape the sides of the bowl down and add the eggs one at a time, beating well and scraping the sides/bottom of bowl between each addition.

4. Gently fold in the sifted flour with a large spatula until just incorporated, followed by the date mixture. Finally stir in the melted, cooled chocolate, until just combined.

5. Pour mixture into the prepared pan and bake for around 45 minutes, or until the cake shrinks back from the sides of the pan and the middle springs back slightly when pressed.

6. Make the caramel sauce while the cake is baking: combine the butter, sugar, and cream in a small/medium saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce the heat and simmer for 5-10 minutes, or until caramel has thickened into a pourable but sturdy sauce. Remove from heat and add the salt, vanilla and brandy.

7. Finally, cut the warm cake into squares, and serve with spoonfuls of the hot toffee sauce and unsweetened whipped cream! Enjoy!

ginger cake + fudgy toffee frosting!

Kansas City finally got some snow this week, and I couldn’t have been more excited. I love watching it from the window, the opaque quality of light. I find it simultaneously calming and energizing; what to bake on a cozy snow day??

Ginger cake with fudgy toffee frosting, obviously! This cake is simplicity at its finest; soft and sweetly spiced cake blanketed with a luscious, buttery toffee frosting. A cheering accompaniment to coffee in the morning, and perhaps even better alongside a whiskey nightcap.

Ginger Cake + Fudgy Toffee Frosting

Yields one 9” square cake

Cake:

• scant 1 cup (225 g; 2 sticks) unsalted butter

• 1 cup + 2 T (225 g) packed light or dark brown sugar

• 1/2 cup (200 g) Lyle’s Golden Syrup (or honey, or light corn syrup)

• 1 T molasses (preferably blackstrap)

• 2 xl eggs

• 1 1/4 cups (300 g) whole milk

• 2 1/2 cups (325 g) all-purpose flour

• 1/2 cup (50 g) almond flour

• 1/2 t kosher salt

• 2 t baking soda

• 2 t ground ginger

Frosting:

• generous 5 T (75 g) butter

• 3/4 cup (180 g) heavy cream

• 1/4 cup + 2 T (75 g) granulated sugar

• 1/4 cup + 2 T (75 g) packed light brown sugar

• 1/4 t kosher salt

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 325 F. Grease a 9” square cake pan and line with parchment paper.

2. Put the butter, sugar, syrup, and molasses into a small pan and stir over low heat until melted; let cool slightly. Meanwhile, whisk together the milk and the eggs, then add to the butter/sugar mixture.

3. Whisk the flour, almond flour, salt, baking soda, and ginger into a large mixing bowl and make a well in the center. Add the liquid mixture, and whisk until smooth.

4. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 1 hour, or until the middle is firm to the touch. Let cool in the pan for about 5 minutes, then turn out and let cool completely on a wire rack.

5. Make the frosting: put the ingredients into a pan and stir over medium heat until melted. Bring to a boil a simmer for 5 minutes, stirring now and then. Remove from the heat and whisk until the mixture has thickened to a toffee sauce-like consistency. Allow to cool completely, beating occasionally to prevent it forming a sugary skin. Once cold, beat vigorously, until thick and spreadable.

6. Spoon the frosting onto the top of the cake and spread out in an even layer before swirling with the blade of a knife. Let set before cutting into slices to serve.

adapted from The Farmhouse Cookbook by Sarah Mayor