Name: Sticky date pudding
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 50 min
Yield: 7–9
Cuisine: Australian
Ingredients: 280 g pitted dates, roughly chopped; 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda; 250 ml (1 cup) boiling water; ¼ cup loosely packed brown sugar (pudding); 80 g unsalted butter, softened; 2 eggs, room temperature; 1¼ cups plain flour; 1½ tsp baking powder; 1 cup tightly packed brown sugar (sauce); 375 ml (1½ cups) thickened cream; ½ tsp vanilla extract; 70 g unsalted butter (sauce); Ice cream or cream, to serve

Method

Heat oven to 180°C (160°C fan). Grease a 20 cm square pan (or 7 pudding moulds) and line if using a pan.
Pour boiling water over dates and bicarb. Stand 10 minutes, then mash to a sloppy porridge.
Beat butter and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs. Mix in flour and baking powder, then quickly mix in the date mash.
Bake the slab 35 minutes (moulds 25 minutes) until a skewer comes out clean.
Sauce: simmer brown sugar, cream, vanilla and butter 2 minutes. While pudding is hot, poke about 40 holes and pour over ½ cup sauce; soak 10 minutes.
Serve warm with extra hot sauce and ice cream.

Tip: Poke holes and soak with sauce while hot — that is what makes it dark, sticky and moist. Mash the dates well or you get pale blotches.