nurseThe best sticky date pudding I’ve ever ate was in Sydney, in a cafe somewhere ( I don’t know where). It was probably only my first or 2nd week in Sydney and I’m not not familiar at all (AT ALL) with any of the areas. But one of my friend’s friend took us out for ‘supper’ at night, and claimed that that place’s Sticky Date Pudding is darn good! Not kidding it was pretty damn awesome. I don’t know if it’s because of the weather that makes eating any warm sticky date pudding with ice cream and caramel sauce a winner, or just because it’s good. Haha I think maybe the first, but well, if it was a warm brownie, that would have been the best brownies, ever!

Lol, I’m not a huge fan of dates as it is but in cakes, yeah probably 😉 It gives the cake a sweet earthiness warm feeling to it; comforting I guess.

For pairing, I made Honey Ginger ICe Cream from Johnny Iuzzini’s Dessert Fourplay. I love that book already. But honestly, I don’t like ginger. I pick them out in dishes. But ginger soup / ginger tong sui, yes!! Maybe 5 years down the road, I’m an avid fan of ginger, lol!! I’m not kidding. Things I absolutely hate eating or smelling before, I love ’em now. Or at least, like eating /smelling / drinking them. For instance, coffee, bitter gourd, okra, and assam laksa and parsley. Haha ok save that story for another day. I guess everyone is quite familiar with honey and ginger hot drink. But for this instance, it’s cold! At first I was a bit skeptical on how the ginger might taste cold. After all, all these while, ginger’s mainly used in hot dishes / drinks. So out of curiosity, I made the ice cream. And then I thought maybe it would work well with the sticky date pudding cake, since it’s all homey, comforting, earthy, brown and ‘healthy’ (just forget about the caramel sauce or cream haha )

Honey Ginger Ice Cream

(adapted from Johnny Iuzzini’s Dessert Fourplay)

6 tbsp (120g) honey (I used Manuka Honey it tastes super yum!)
2 cups (500ml) milk
1/2 cup (125ml) cream
50g fresh young ginger, sliced thinly (original, 60g)
1 Tahitian Vanilla Bean, split and scraped
40g light corn syrup
25g milk powder
4 egg yolks

Method

1. Put honey in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, until honey caramelizes to a rich amber. In another pot, put milk, cream, ginger, vanilla pod and seeds and bring to a boil.

2. Pour milk into honey and whisk to dissolve the honey. Remove from heat, cover at let it infuse for 15 minutes. Strain mixture into a clean saucepan and whisk in the corn syrup and milk powder. Discard ginger, as for vanilla pod, rinse then dry and save for another use. Bring to a simmer over medium heat.

3. Whisk yolks in a medium bowl. When milk-honey mixture is simmering, gradually pour in about 1/2 cup into the yolks to temper them. Whisk. then, pour back the egg yolk mixture into the pot. Cook over very low heat, while stirring constantly. The mixture will become thickened and it should coat the back of a wooden spoon. Remove from heat.

4. Strain the mixture into a bowl, and set over ice bath to cool down the temperature. When it’s reduced to room temp, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight for the flavours to mature.

5. Freeze in ice cream maker as according to manufacturer’s instructions. Pour out and store in a container and freeze for at least 2 hours before serving.

Sticky Date Pudding

(adapted from ABC delicious Wicked)

180g dried Mazafati Dates, pitted and chopped
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
50g unsalted butter
100g brown sugar
2 eggs
180g self-raising flour
pinch of salt
Toffee sauce
150g brown sugar
1 cup cream
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
20g unsalted butter
1/2 tsp salt

Method.

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Combine dates and baking soda in a bowl. Pour over 250ml (1 cup) of boiling water. Set the dates aside for 20-30 minutes or until room temperature.

2. Cream butter and sugar until pale. Add eggs one at a time, beating until smooth. Fold in half the amount of flour (add salt in it too). Then stir in dates mixture. Fold in remaining flour.

3. Pour into lined 7″ cake pan and bake for 40-45 minutes or until cooked through. Set aside for 5 minutes before turning out.

4. To make sauce, combine all ingredients in a saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring until butter has melted. Simmer for 5 minutes.

To serve, cut cake into desired size, add a scoop of honey ginger ice cream (of you can use vanilla ice cream) and pour over hot toffee sauce!

Absolutely LOVE the honey ginger ice cream. Maybe it will change my mind on ginger. Well, ok, maybe just NOT yet. But eat the ice cream at night (just right before you go to bed) is so comforting! Its sends out a lingering sensation in your throat, as if curing a sore-throat!! HAHA Don’t take my words for granted, you’re not suppose to eat ice cream if you have a sore throat. 😉