Some of my oldest and dearest friends came to visit me at Christmas. I had found winter up until then pretty hard going and the prospect that there wasn’t an end in sight was rather depressing.
When Team arrived, however, everything suddenly seemed so much less dreary even though the snow still lay unassailably thickly on the ground.
They made my birthday – a week before Christmas – one of the top two I’ve ever celebrated. We ate cinnamon buns Anna made for breakfast, opened presents, went to the casino, danced and ate some kebabs with Leon’s winnings on the way back.
I had a list as long as my arm of things I wanted us to cook and eat together and one of them was sticky date pudding. That time, it was a baked one and it tasted especially sweet with my friends around me but this one, another Daring Bakers challenge is perhaps a little more authentic, being steamed the traditional way.
It’s a little springlike to be tucking into such a heavy dessert perhaps but nevertheless, I’ve managed to make impressive inroads into it in the two hours since I made it and it tasted all the sweeter remembering the one I ate with Team.
Do things taste better to you when you’re with the people you love?
Steamed Sticky Date Pudding with Butterscotch Sauce
The April 2010 Daring Bakers’ 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. I wasn’t so keen on the idea of fat from around organs so I flagged it and made this instead.
For the Pudding
150 grams pitted fresh dates
150 ml water
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
Bring the dates and water to the boil in a small pot and simmer a few minutes, breaking the dates up with a wooden spoon. Remove from heat and mix in the baking soda.
30 grams of softened butter
75 grams sugar
2 small beaten eggs
90 grams flour
Cream together the butter and sugar, then beat in the eggs one at a time.
Beat in the date mixture, then finally fold in the flour until combined.
Pour the mixture into a buttered pudding bowl with at least 800 ml capacity. Cover with greaseproof paper and tie it on around the rim with butcher’s twine.
In a pot large enough to comfortably hold the bowl, place a ring of foil to keep the bowl from touching the bottom of the pot.
Pour in enough water to come about half way up the sides of the bowl, place the bowl atop the foil and put the lid on the pot.
Steam on medium until you hear the water boiling, then lower heat to its lowest setting and steam 1 hour.
Leave to cool a little before removing the lid.
Remove the paper and twine and ease a knife around the edges, before turning out onto a plate.
For the Butterscotch Sauce
110 grams brown sugar
60 grams butter
180 ml cream
Heat in a small pot until smooth and serve with the pudding. I used salted butter since that’s all I can get but if you use unsalted, add a bit of salt too, to make the flavour pop.
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This sounds really good!
I used butter in my sponge version too, and I think it works just fine, traditional or no.
what a delicious pudding, well done, i thoroughly enjoyed it.
Mmmm, dates! One of very favorite things. I’ll have to try this sometime.
Like, next winter ;P
*drool!* And butterscotch sauce rules! I’d add a little salt to it, just to make the flavour a little more pronounced – well done!
I used salted butter (there doesn’t seem to be unsalted here) in the sauce…Good tip for others though, gonna add it in, thanks!
Well done Sasa! Your pudding looks yummy! Thanks for visiting my blog and leaving a lovely comment!
I am so gonna give this pudding a try.
It looks lovely!
This looks awesome Sasa! Just love dates and made a choc date pudding this winter which was great. Loving this version! Well done on the challenge!
Made a similar one..but yours looks DIVINE!!!
How gorgeous! I’ve only made baked sticky date puddings before – I should have tried a steamed one. Great photos :)
That looks lovely so cute and homely well done and the story about your friends stirs my heart strings. Cheers from Audax in Sydney Australia.
your pudding looks lovely! :) and i do think things taste better when eaten with good company!:)
oh yes, they do taste much better with people we love….. :)
Just like the
Steamed Chocolate Pudding & Steamed Apple n Caramel Pudding for Daring Bakers April 2010 – My First Challenge.
Date pudding’s gonna be my next, It looks like amazing comfort food :)
Cheers,
Nachiketa
Of course it does. Nothing better than sharing food with good friends. Love your blog (we have the same template!) and have just completed by first DB challenge so am really enjoying discovering what everyone else has done. Your pudding looks lovely.
Sticky Toffee Pudding is definitely on my to do list.
Isn’t it great how good food can bring back great memories! Great job on the pudding, and thank you for sharing your happy memories!
Sticky date pudding with butterscotch sauce is one of my favourite desserts. I have never tried making it with the traditional method but you have me very curious now.
Lovely post and lovely pudding. It’s great when food brings back such memories and when you taste it with your eyes closed, it all comes back. I’m a little late with my DB pudding but should find time to post tomorrow.
Well done indeed! Things definitely taste much better with friends and good company! Love the flavours in there, and the sauce too …. mmmm! Just beautiful Sasa!!
Um, wow. You mean I have to wait until dinner to make this…?
Nah, I ate it for brekkie ;P Wait…I’m a greedy piglet, don’t take my advice.
Looks lovely. I made something very similar, with the addition of some ginger for a spicy kick.
Well done for this month challenge Sasa, your pudding look wonderful and perfect!
The experience of food is definitely sweeter when it’s had with people you care about! Lovely post and a lovely take on the challenge! (And you’re right — it’s a bit strange to be reading someone else’s blog that uses the same template as your own!)
Your pudding looks great! I love the spiral of foil on the bottom of your pan to keep the bowl out of the water. Did the butterscotch sauce turn out well? I don’t see it in your photos and was curious.
It did actually but I forgot to take a photo with it on and well…I ate it before I remembered, hehe.
Photos with all the props and little touches are so PURTY, just rike in a Japanese cookbook. Fab stuff.
My dad has always made these rich creme caramel or choc creme desserts for us at Christmas, and he still offers me the bowl at the end to lick out, because that’s what I used to do as a kid, and it’s the love that goes into that gesture that makes it all the yummier.
Aw, 3-9 Banannles! Sweet gesture – I remember reading a book (I forget the name now) where the dad gave his kids “love-sips” out of his tea cup while he was drinking.
Your pudding looks wonderful!
I love sticky date pudding but never thought of steaming it. Very very nicely done. Love the gorgeous colour of your pudding.
Yumm . . . Sticky date pudding sounds so delicious and your pictures are lovely. I so agree that food tastes better when you are with the people that you love (unless you are momentarily annoyed with them ;-))
That’s a great looking pudding and, as luck would have it, it’s exactly the right time of year here for a pudding like that!
I think things definitely taste better when you’re with people you love – whenever I go to Auckland to visit my Dad, I try to coerce him into making one of his steamed puddings – and as he will pretty much do anything my heart desires (Dads are like that), I usually get a pudding. It’s probably quite an ordinary steamed pudding, but it tastes of his love. :-)
Sue
I think the act of cooking for the ones you love is an act of love (well, most of the time) and eating the food you love with your loved ones is such a strong and unforgettable experience.
As expats we love to try new things and see new places, but I think nothing can compare to the happiness of being with your family and friends sharing a magnificent meal (if in Mexico or France; even better!).
Oh, and will you believe I have never tried a pudding?.
Oh delicious your tale and so more delicious your pudding!!! :-D
I’ve used butter, too…I don’t like suet very much ;-P
Looks so good. I also made sticky date pudding and we liked it so much I made it twice ! :)
Definitely cooking for the ones we love and having them appreciate our efforts makes it an even more pleasant experience! I like how moist and delicious that pudding is and the fact that it is such a retro recipe!
p.s
Your butterscotch sauce is delicious and pretty easy to make. Cheers,
Elra
Looking at so many puddings, I want to make one too!
YUM!! This is my absolute favourite pudding – you just can’t go past the butterscotch sauce :) And yes – I have to agree – EVERYTHING tastes better when it’s eaten with people you love! :) Absolutely gorgeous post!! :)
Thank you for sharing your story with us and it’s great that it inspired your pudding! Now, I imagine it was wonderful to begin with, but I think being with the ones you love, just makes that bite almost euphoric :)
I love sticky toffee pudding. It’s the first cake I was introduced to when I first came to Scotland. I fell in love with it immediately. But I have never tried the steamed version.
mmmmm it looks delicious!
Well.. I always thought eating on my own to be totally depressing.. that is why I usually don’t eat anything when I am alone ( I meant anything fancy or interesting..).. Plus cooking for one I find it to be absolutely depressing..
Yours post reminded me of the closure in the “Woman on Top” movie..
“And remembers.. always share it with the ones you love”…
:)
There’s not much better than sticky date. This would have been a lovely moist and tasty pudding.
I’ve never eaten this but it sounds and looks great. I love your trick of using aluminum foil beneath the dish to steam it.
i once had a bake off with my friend. She made a sticky date pudding. I made banana muffins and cucpakes. And then after all the hard work, we sat on the kitchen floor and ate it all. Said friend is now back in Oz and I miss her terribly :( things like this are definitely more fun with loved ones!
Know the feeling…
This looks delicious.
I used to do a very similar pudding with pumpkin and chai. Awesome.
YUM! This used to be my specialty but I haven’t made puddings in ages. I feel inspired!
Awesome job Sasa and I really like the flavour that you picked! :D I think I’d gladly tuck into this in Spring, Summer, Autumn or Winter! :D
Delicious looking pudding and terrific photos. Congrats on the completing the challenge!
A good old favourite especially with butterscotch sauce!
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