Sticky Date Pudding

this is what love looks like on a plate - warm, sweet and desirable!

This perfect sticky pudding dessert was a hit in my family. They were gone within minutes and I had everyone begging me to make another batch. I had to say no of course because I need them wanting more. I know, that was pretty cruel of me...

If I am going to be honest, I was pretty speechless when I made this dessert. I did not expect it to come out as good as it did. I made it a couple times in the past and it never came out this good. I guess the secret to this recipe was adding extra dates and water to make it exceptionally sweet and moist. Plus, I practised making the caramel sauce multiple times before I got it right.

This caramel sauce in particular is definitely one of my favourites because its nut free, and therefore, tastes sweeter. Although the sauce for this recipe is quite sweet, I would recommend serving it with vanilla dairy-free ice-cream. It's ultimately the cherry on top. The smooth, classic taste of vanilla nicely cuts through the rich flavours of the sauce and sticky date cake. So all in all, every element to this dessert was made to complement each other and create the perfect, iconic sticky date dessert.

I have to say, this recipe ticks all of the boxes, its free from gluten, dairy and refined sugar, it can even be altered to become vegan! So if I were you, I would not skip trying this recipe yourself. I promise you won’t regret it.

Sticky Date Pudding

GF DF V P

Serves 4 - 5

INGREDIENTS

Cake

· 1/2 cup almond meal

· 1 tbsp tapioca flour

· 10 dates

· 1/3 cup boiling water

· 1/4 cup coconut oil (melted)

· 1 egg (or 1 tbsp flaxseed flour + 3 tbsp water)

· 1/2 tsp baking soda

· 1 tsp vinegar

· 1 tsp vanilla essence

· pinch of salt

Caramel Sauce

· 1/3 cup coconut cream

· 1/3 cup coconut sugar

· 3 tbsp coconut oil

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees on fan bake.

Sift all of the dry ingredients into a bowl. Boil the dates until they become soft. Remove the skin of the dates and roughly chop them. Mix in all of the wet ingredients together until smooth. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and gently fold them together until sticky. Place baking paper in soufflé ramekins, covering the inside walls and base. Pour the mixture evenly into each souffle ramekin. Place them in the oven for 20-25 minutes.

Whilst the sticky date puddings are cooking, start making the caramel sauce by placing all of the ingredients into a saucepan. Bring it to boil on medium heat. Let the sauce boil for 1 minute whilst stirring constantly. Then turn the stove heat down to simmer for 10 minutes and continues to stir until the mixture begins to thicken. Once the sauce has thickened, leave it aside for 15 minutes.

After the sticky date puddings have been cooked, leave them aside for 5 minutes to partially cool own. Take the sticky date puddings out of the souffle ramekins. Add a scoop of ice-cream to each serve and pour the warm caramel sauce on top.