Toffee Kumquat Pudding Recipes

STICKY TOFFEE PUDDING

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and butter an 8½-inch porcelain soufflé dish (or similar-sized baking dish).
• Make the toffee sauce by bringing the cream, dark brown sugar, golden syrup (or molasses) and salt to a boil in a medium saucepan, stirring often to melt the sugar.
• Lower heat and simmer, stirring constantly for about 5 minutes, until the mixture is thick and coats the spoon. Pour half the sauce into the prepared soufflé dish and place the dish in the freezer, and reserve the other half for serving.
• To make the pudding, in a medium saucepan, heat the dates and water. Once the water begins to boil, remove from heat and stir in the baking soda. Set aside, but keep it slightly warm.
• In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
• In the bowl of a standing electric mixer, or by hand, beat the butter and granulated sugar until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in the eggs, then the vanilla. (Don't be alarmed if the mixture looks a bit curdled.)
• Stir in half of the flour mixture, then the date mixture, then add the remaining flour mixture until just mixed. Don't overbeat the batter.
• Remove the soufflé dish from the freezer and scrape the batter into the soufflé dish and bake for 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with moist crumbs attached.
• Remove the pudding from the oven, and let cool slightly before serving. Spoon portions of the cake into serving bowls and douse with additional warm toffee sauce. Whipped cream or vanilla ice cream are good accompaniments, although I enjoy it just as it is.

TOFFEE SAUCE FOR TOFFEE KUMQUAT PUDDING

Steps:

• In a medium saucepan over medium heat bring the ingredients to a boil. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until just slightly thickened, about 5 minutes. Serve warm.

STICKY TOFFEE PUDDING WITH TOFFEE SAUCE

Steps:

• Cake: Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Butter and flour a 2 1/2-quart baking dish. Place dates in a bowl, pour coffee over dates, and let soak 15 minutes. Stir in baking soda.
• Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Beat together butter and sugar with a mixer on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to medium and beat in eggs, one at a time, until thoroughly incorporated.
• Reduce speed to low, and add half the flour mixture, beating until combined. Add date mixture and remaining flour mixture, and beat until just combined. (Do not overmix.) Transfer batter to dish, and bake until cake is puffed and springs back in center when gently pressed with a finger, about 25 minutes.
• Sauce: Meanwhile, combine butter, sugar, and cream in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium (so sauce does not boil over) and boil, stirring frequently, until sauce thickens and darkens slightly, about 4 minutes.
• Remove cake from oven and pierce holes at 1-inch intervals to bottom of cake with a wooden skewer. Pour half of hot sauce over cake and let soak 20 minutes. Serve warm with remaining sauce. Cake soaked in sauce and remaining toffee sauce can be stored at room temperature up to 1 day. Before serving, warm cake in a 300 degrees oven 10 minutes, and sauce in a small saucepan over medium heat.

PRUNE KUMQUAT STICKY PUDDING WITH ARMAGNAC TOFFEE SAUCE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F and generously butter an 11-cup Kugelhopf pan (see note, above) or 11-cup bundt pan.
• Halve prunes and in a small saucepan simmer with Armagnac and 3/4 cup water, uncovered, 5 minutes. With a slotted spoon transfer prunes to a shallow dish to cool. Boil Armagnac mixture until reduced to about 1/2 cup and add to prunes.
• Halve kumquats lengthwise and thinly slice crosswise. In a small saucepan bring remaining 1/2 cup water with 1/4 cup granulated sugar to a simmer, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Add kumquats and simmer 10 minutes. In a fine sieve drain kumquats and add to prunes.
• Into a bowl sift together flour, baking soda, ginger, allspice, and salt. Resift mixture into another bowl.
• In a large bowl with an electric mixer beat together butter, remaining 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar, and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition, and beat in vanilla. Add flour mixture and prune mixture alternately in batches, beginning and ending with flour mixture and beating until just combined.
• Spoon batter into pan (pan will be almost full) and bake in middle of oven 1 hour and 10 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. Cool cake in pan on a rack 10 minutes and turn out onto rack to cool completely. Cake keeps, wrapped in plastic wrap, at room temperature 1 week.
• Garnish cake with kumquats and serve with warm toffee sauce and ice cream.

STICKY TOFFEE PUDDING WITH BLOOD ORANGE, TANGERINE, AND WHIPPED CRèME FRAîCHE

Steps:

• Place the dates and baking soda in a bowl, and pour 1 cup boiling water over them. Let them sit for 1 hour, and then strain the dates (reserve the water). Purée them in a food processor, pour the liquid in, and pulse to combine.
• Preheat the oven to 350°F.
• Prepare a 9-inch springform pan by spreading butter on the inside surfaces, lining the bottom with parchment paper, and buttering the parchment.
• Sift the flour and baking powder together. Stir in the salt.
• In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugars at medium-high speed for 4 to 5 minutes, until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, and beat until fluffy again. Add the date purée and the flour mixture, alternating, to the butter mixture, and combine well.
• Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 35 minutes, until the pudding is dark brown. Immediately after removing the pudding from the oven, pour 1/2 cup of toffee sauce over the top. Let the pudding rest for 15 minutes before serving.
• While the pudding is baking, cut the stem and blossom ends from the blood oranges. Place the oranges cut-side down on a cutting board. Following the contour of the fruit with your knife, remove the peel and cottony white pith, working from top to bottom, and rotating the fruit as you go. Slice each orange into 8 to 10 pinwheels.
• Peel the tangerines, separate them into segments, and remove all the white veins, or pith. Slice the kumquats into pinwheels. Chill the fruit until you are ready to serve.
• Using a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment (or by hand), whip the cream and crème fraîche together to soft peaks.
• Slice six pieces of warm pudding (the pudding serves twelve) and place them on six dessert plates. Spoon the rest of the warm toffee sauce over the slices. On each plate, dollop a heaping tablespoon of the whipped crème fraîche next to each piece and arrange the citrus evenly over and around the pudding. Scatter the kumquats in a beautiful natural style.