Daring Bakers in April: Sticky Toffee Pudding

The April 2010 Daring Baker's Challenge was hosted by Esther of The Lilac Kitchen.  She challenged everyone to make a traditional British pudding using, if possible, a very traditional British ingredient: suet.

Umm...I did not use suet. I could not even bring myself to look up the German word for suet, much less go to a butcher and ask for some. I used butter. And sugar. And cream. LOTS of butter, and sugar, and cream. I made a classic British dessert: sticky toffee pudding. Contrary to the American meaning of the word, a British pudding is any dish, sweet or savory, which is steamed in a bowl mold in a pot of boiling water. You can see some pictures of the process (and a lovely chocolate pudding) over at My Kitchen Addiction.




I used a pyrex bowl instead of a traditional British ceramic mold, and it turned out great.  I was actually quite thrilled with this dessert, and especially with the sticky toffee sauce - brown sugar, butter, cream, a scraped out vanilla bean, and a generous pinch of fleur de sel make a sauce that would turn even the driest cake into a sweet tooth's delight.

But this cake was not dry.  Not at all.  More brown sugar and a hint of ginger, combined with the humid cooking environment resulted in a light, sweetly spicy cake that complemented the toffee sauce perfectly. Even better, the recipe makes plenty of leftover sauce to pour over your serving or eat later from the fridge with a spoon (not that I know anything about that).



See a printable version of the recipe, and don't forget to check out the puddings of other Daring Bakers, too!