Vegan Sticky Toffee Pudding

Method:

Grease a 25 x 20cm oven proof baking dish with dairy free butter and preheat the oven to 180c. 

Start by making the sponge mixture. Roughly chop the dates and place in a heatproof bowl along with the bicarbonate of soda. Add the oat or almond milk to a pan and onto the heat, gently bring up it to scalding point. Pour the hot milk over the dates and allow it to steam and soften the dates for 10 minutes. Once the dates have softened and the mixture has cooled, add them along with the milk mixture into a food processor or blender and mix until smooth. 

In a large bowl, beat together the dairy free butter and the soft brown sugar until light and fluffy and well incorporated. Next add the date and milk puree and mix through. Finally add the self-raising flour and spices, along with the Maldon salt. Fold this through the wet mixture so it is smooth, but making sure not to overmix the batter. 

Tip the batter into the greased baking dish and smooth over the top. Place into the middle of the preheated oven and bake for 40 minutes until well risen and a skewer comes out clean in the middle. Remove from the oven and set aside. 

While the sponge is baking you can make the sticky toffee sauce. In a small saucepan add the dark brown sugar and dairy free butter and melt together, then lower the temperate and cook together for 5 – 10 minutes until smooth and syrupy. Remove this from the heat and add the dairy free cream, stirring it in. 

Once the sponge has come out of the oven, pour most of the sticky toffee sauce over the pudding – but leave some for extra drizzling! Sprinkle the top of the pudding with Maldon salt. 

Serve the pudding while it is still warm with some dairy free ice cream and an extra drizzle of sticky toffee sauce.