Sticky date pudding with tahini butterscotch sauce

Name: Sticky date pudding with tahini butterscotch sauce
Cook time: 1 h 30 min
Yield: 8-10
Cuisine: British,Modern Australian
Ingredients: 250g pitted dates, roughly snipped with scissors; 300ml water; 1 tsp baking soda; 180g self-raising flour; 1 tsp mixed spice; ¼ tsp fine sea salt; 80g unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus 10g extra for greasing the dish; 80g light brown muscovado sugar; 2 large eggs; 50g tahini; 1 tsp vanilla extract; thick cream or vanilla ice-cream, to serve

Helen Goh

August 30, 2024

Serve the pudding straight from the serving dish.William Meppem

Time:1-2 hoursServes:8-10

A little tahini added to the batter and the accompanying sauce imparts a deliciously nutty flavour and complexity to this classic pudding. The slightly savoury notes of the ground sesame seeds balance the sweetness and add a pleasing density and moistness, too.

Baked in an ovenproof serving dish, this makes a beautiful dessert to share at the table on Father’s Day. Alternatively, bake in a cake tin and cut slices to plate up and serve.

Either way, don’t forget the jug of butterscotch and bowl of cream – or ice-cream, if you prefer – to pass around.

Ingredients

FOR THE PUDDING

250g pitted dates, roughly snipped with scissors
300ml water
1 tsp baking soda
180g self-raising flour
1 tsp mixed spice
¼ tsp fine sea salt
80g unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus 10g extra for greasing the dish
80g light brown muscovado sugar
2 large eggs
50g tahini
1 tsp vanilla extract
thick cream or vanilla ice-cream, to serve

FOR THE TAHINI BUTTERSCOTCH

300ml thickened cream
180g light brown muscovado sugar
80g butter, cut into 4 pieces
½ tsp vanilla extract
50g tahini
¼ tsp sea salt flakes

Method

Step 1
If using an ovenproof serving dish, brush the base and sides with the 10g softened butter. If using a cake tin, line the base and sides of a 20cm-square tin with baking paper, allowing an overhang on all sides to aid cake removal later on. Set the dish or tin aside.
Step 2
Combine the dates and water in a medium saucepan and place over medium-high heat. When the mixture comes to a boil, remove the pan from the heat, stir in the baking soda, then set aside to cool to tepid.
Step 3
Preheat the oven to 175C fan-forced (195C conventional). Sift the self-raising flour, mixed spice and salt into a medium bowl and set aside.
Step 4
Place the butter and muscovado sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat with the paddle attachment on medium-high speed until light and creamy (about 2 minutes). Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl to ensure the ingredients are well combined. Don’t worry if the batter looks curdled; it often does at this stage.
Step 5
Reduce the speed to low and add the tahini and vanilla extract, mixing to combine. Still on low speed, add the dry, sifted ingredients in 3 batches, then add the cooled date mixture.
Step 6
Scrape the batter into the prepared dish or tin and place on the centre rack of the preheated oven. Bake for 40–45 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the pudding comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached. Remove the pudding from the oven.
Step 7
While the pudding is in the oven, make the tahini butterscotch by combining all the ingredients, except the salt flakes, in a medium saucepan. Place over low heat and stir gently until the butter has melted, then increase the heat and bring the sauce to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat and simmer for 90 seconds, then remove from heat. Stir in the salt.
Step 8
When the pudding is out of the oven, transfer to a wire rack to settle for about 10 minutes, then pierce holes all over with a skewer, going right through to the bottom of the cake. Spoon about a quarter of the butterscotch sauce evenly over the pudding and allow it to soak in for a few minutes. Pour the remaining butterscotch into a jug to pass around the table.
Step 9
Bring the warm pudding to the table if it was baked in a serving dish, or slice into squares to plate up if it was made in the cake tin. Either way, serve accompanied by the extra butterscotch sauce and pass around a bowl of thick cream or ice-cream.