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I was searching around for a decent sticky toffee pudding recipe to add to the Wikibooks UK Cookbook. Ended up making this recipe today, based on recipes I read online. It was dead nice.

Note: Finely chopping the dates helps make a really gooey cake - but some people prefer to chop the dates roughly, so that they're more obvious in the finished pudding.

For the cake

• 250g self-raising flour
• 100g unsalted butter, room temperature
• 250g caster sugar
• 2 large or 3 medium eggs
• 250g dates (without stones), finely chopped
• 300ml water
• 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence

For the toffee sauce

• 400 ml whipping cream
• 2/3 cups dark, soft brown sugar (e.g. muscovado)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 375g unsalted butter

Method

• Preheat oven to 180ºC/360ºF.
• Cream together the butter, sugar and vanilla. You can do this by beating it in a bowl with a wooden spoon for about 5 minutes, taking care to break up the crystals and smooth the mixture out as much as possible. Or do it using an electric blender if you prefer.
• Add the eggs, one at a time, beating in after you've added each egg.
• Fold in the flour.
• Now, bring the water to the boil and add the dates. Add the bicarb and immediately take the pan off the heat. Let it cool slightly, then add to the mixture.
• Pour the mixture into a greased cake-tin (make sure you use one with enough room for the cake to rise!).
• Bake in the oven for 40 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.
• Remove from the oven and set aside to cool a little while you make the sauce.
• To make the sauce, mix the four ingredients in a saucepan. Heat gently, stirring often to make sure that the mixture doesn't separate. Once the mixture looks like a smooth sauce and is nice and warm, it's ready. Don't allow it to bubble.
• Divide the cake into portions and poke holes all over the top with a skewer or chopstick.
• Pour the sauce over the top of the cake, making sure it gets in the holes.

Serve with cream, custard, or ice-cream.