You are going to fall in love with this Sticky Toffee Pudding Cake Recipe that I am going to share with you today. Not only is it very simple to make, but its incredibly delicious.
It is also a great make-ahead dessert that you can make a few days before you want to serve it. You neeed only simply re-heat and sauce it when you want to serve it. This makes it the perfect recipe for entertaining.
Before retiring I worked as a personal Chef for a family that lived in a Manor House down in Kent. We had our own cottage on the Manor Estate and I cooked for the family, three squares a day on a daily basis.
On top of that I also cooked for special occasions such as Silver Service Dinner Parties, Ladies Luncheons and just about every special holiday going!
I did all the shopping, prepping, cooking and delivery of every meal, from one person on up to 25+ , and in the case of dinner parties that could mean 5 courses, not counting the appetisers I would to make to go along with pre-dinner drinks. I would usually make 3 or 4 of them.
It was a great opportunity for me to stretch my abilities and to grow as a chef. Money was no object as you can imagine. The lady of the house often spent in access of £500 on just the flowers for the table, so I had the best of ingredients to work with. In that way it was a dream job.
These Baby Sticky Toffee Pudding Cakes were a very popular dessert that I would serve on occasion. Individual date cakes, topped with a sticky toffee sauce and served with more toffee sauce for pouring and double cream. Everyone loved them.
I loved them too but not because of how delicious they were but because of the ease of preparation and for the fact that I could have them all but made up to two days before the occasion.
As you can imagine with so much food and so many courses to prepare, I tried to have quite a few dishes that were simple to make ahead as well as being delicious.
This was a real favourite. You can bake the cakes and cover them with the sticky toffee sauce up to two days prior to serving.
Covered and refrigerated, you only need take them out when you are ready to serve dessert and warm them up in a moderate oven while you warm up the remaining toffee sauce!
I would often have to double or triple the recipe depending on how many guests were in attendance. The cakes are single serving sized, moist and deliciously stogged full of lovely rich sticky dates . . .
It is the dates that give them that sticky toffee-ish flavour and incredibly moist texture. No dryness here.
The sticky toffee sauce is delectably delicious. You could almost be tempted to eat it with a spoon, its so tasty, but don't . . . its loaded with more than just flavour, lol.
There be PLENTY of calories, butter, cream and sugar in it as well. That's what makes it so gorgeously rich and decadent!
Best reserved for special occasions . . .
Once reheated you simply use a spatula to scoop them into heated dessert plates and spoon more toffee sauce over them. Pass the remainder at the table for those who care to pour it over their desserts . . .
My husband loves pouring cream with his . . .but you can also enjoy custard or clotted cream. I dare say even a small quenelle of vanilla ice cream would go well.
I remember being really surprised when I moved over here to the UK and saw people pouring cream right from the jug over their desserts. That was competely alien to me.
As well as warm vanilla custard sauce, they will often have both. They do love their puddings here in the UK, and they have some of the best and most delicious in the world!
Decadent and delicious like Sticky Toffee Pudding, which comes from the Lake District. If you are ever visiting the Lake District do partake of it as they have a secret recipe up there which nobody likes to share with outsiders . . .
I wouldn't be surprised if when you cut them open their veins don't run with Sticky Toffee Sauce!!
This dessert is not as dark and as rich as theirs is up in Cartmel, but it IS pretty darned delicious all the same!
Put it this way, if you serve these at your next Dinner party you are sure to get the treasured reputation of being the Hostess with the Mostess!
Resistance is futile . . . trust me on this.
Yield: 10
Baby Sticky Toffee Pudding Cakes
Delicious, easy and impressive. What's even better is you can make it all up ahead of time the day before you are having company for dinner and reheat it all at the last minute to serve. These were a popular dessert I used to make for dinner parties when I cooked at Brenchley Manor.
ingredients:
For the Cakes:
- 7 ounces coarsely chopped pitted dates (about 1 1/4 cups)
- 240ml water ( 1 cup)
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 235g plain flour (about 1 2/3 cups)
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 250g caster sugar (scant 1 1/3 cups)
- 60g unsalted butter, room temperature (1/4 cup)
- 1 large free range egg
For the Toffee Sauce:
- 400g soft light brown sugar (2 cups packed)
- 120g unsalted butter (1/2 cup)
- 500ml of double cream (2 cups)
- 2 TBS dark rum or brandy
To Serve:
- Vanilla ice cream, pouring cream or sweetened whipped heavy cream
instructions:
How to cook Baby Sticky Toffee Pudding Cakes
- Make the toffee sauce first. Whisk the sugar and butter together in a heavy saucepan over medium heat until the butter is melted. (The mixture will be grainy) Add the cream and bring to the boil. Boil until the mixture coats a spoon, whisking constantly. This will take about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly. Whisk in the rum or brandy. (I use a tsp of vanilla at home instead.) This can be done up to two days ahead. Just put into a bowl, cover and refrigerate. Rewarm before serving.
- To make the cakes, combine the dates and water in a saucepan. Bring to the boil and then cook until the dates are soft, about 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally. When cooled, whisk in the vanilla and baking soda.
- Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark4. Butter and flour 10 muffin or custard cups.
- Whisk the flour, salt and baking powder together in a bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar together in another bowl. Beat in the egg. Add the flour mixture alternately with the date mixture in two additions, beating to blend well after each addition. Divide the batter equally amongst the prepared muffin cups.
- Bake the cakes for 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Remove from the oven. Allow to cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes before turning out onto a baking sheet which you have lined with foil. If the cakes have rounded tops, trim them off so that they sit flat on the baking sheet. Spoon 2 TBS of the toffee sauce over each warm cake. Let cool completely. (This can be done a day ahead. Cover with foil and refrigerate.)
- When ready to serve, preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Reheat the cakes on the baking sheet for about 10 minutes. Place onto hot serving plates and drizzle with any remaining toffee sauce (heated). Serve with cream or whipped cream.
My husband was in British Pudding Heaven with this. I don't know how he stays so thin. Most of them were sent next door to our neighbour. She has a big strapping lad who could polish off a few of these with one hand tied behind his back. Nobodies complaining!
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at: mariealicejoan at aol dot com Thanks so much for visiting. Do come again!
Last month we received a beautiful box of fish from Seafresh Quality Foods.
Seafresh is an on line fish monger, which sells quality fish, seafood,
poultry and meat.
I was incredibly impressed with both
their product and their delivery service! There was absolutely nothing
that I could fault with any of it. Feel free to read about my experience here.
Included in the box was a package of beautiful looking raw King Prawns. Their prawns are individually quick frozen so that you can take out as many or as little as you want, which makes them very handy to use and ideal for whatever size family you have.
They are also shelled and de-veined at the source, so you can just cook them without any messing about. BONUS!
One of my first jobs as a young woman was as the Pastry Chef in a big hotel back home. It had a four star restaurant attached to it.
The Old Orchard Inn was a prime destination for tourists and locals alike back in the day. It was a great place to work and to cut my chef's teeth in. I was responsible for the preparation of all of the Appetisers and desserts. I loved it! It was my dream job, and I learnt a lot!
Shrimp Cocktail was one of the most popular appetisers, along with Escargot. If I had a dollar for every one of those dishes I prepared, not to mention Black Forest Cakes, I would be able to retire as a very rich woman!
This classic appetiser was the epitome of fine dining back in the day! This Shrimp Cocktail Recipe is really a very simple dish to make as well!
Over here big shrimps are called King Prawns. But they are the same thing. Lovely and large and beautifully pink when cooked. They don't really quite a long cook time.
They are done in literally a few minutes. You just drop the thawed prawns into a large pot of salted water which has been infused with some lemon, and let them sit until they are pink and curled. That's it. Take out rinse off and chill.
Look at how beautifully they hook along the edges of the dishes . . . at the Manor they had dedicated Shrimp Cocktail Recipe glasses that had little bases you could fill with crushed ice to really keep them chilled.
I am not a millionaire so I don't have anything like that. Just sherbet dishes which do a rather dab job of presentation if I don't say so myself.
The cocktail sauce for this dish is also very simple to make.
Like in my hotel days, it is a blend of a few ingredients, that magically turn into something which is incredibly delicious when put together . . . tomato ketchup (use a good one), creamed horseradish (again use a good one), fresh lemon juice, Tabasco sauce, salt and pepper . . .
Simple. Traditional. Special. Delicious. Quick and easy to put together. What more could a person want when entertaining. Just watch the eyes light up when you present this to your guests!
Yield: 6
Classic Shrimp Cocktail
This classic recipe takes you right back to the 1960's when Shrimp Cocktails was considered the epitome of good taste served as a first course at dinner parties. In all truth it never goes out of style. This is always a hit!
ingredients:
For the Shrimps:
- a large pot filled with cold water
- 1 fresh lemon, cut into quarters
- 1 TBS fine sea salt
- 2 pounds King Prawns (large shrimps), thawed if frozen
For the Cocktail Sauce:
- 245g tomato ketchup (1 cup)
- 1 - 2 TBS prepared horseradish (depending on how spicy you want it)
- 1 TBS fresh lemon juice
- 1 tsp Tabasco sauce
- fine sea salt and black pepper to taste
To serve:
- shredded lettuce
- lemon wedges
instructions:
How to cook Classic Shrimp Cocktail
- Put the lemon into the pot of water. Bring to the boil. Add the salt. Stir to dissolve. Add the prawns/shrimps. Turn off the heat. Let sit until the shrimp curl and turn pink. Drain well and rinse in cold water. Refrigerate until ready to eat.
- To make the cocktail sauce, stir all of the ingredients together to blend well. Taste to make sure you have enough salt and pepper added.
- To serve you will need six footed glass dishes, along with 6 smaller glass containers to sit in the middle of them to hold the cocktail sauce. Fill the smaller glass containers with the sauce. Place in the centres of the footed glass dishes. Surround the edges with shredded lettuce to fill. Divide up the prawns, and hook them around the edges of the dishes. Place the footed dishes onto small serving plates along with a wedge or two of lemon and serve immediately.
Sorry, I couldn't resist. The 60's and Tom Jones go together like peas and carrots! Let me tell you Todd was thrilled beyond measure with this.
A few things about Seafresh:
- Same Day dispatch on orders received before 1 PM.
- All packages are carefully hand packed.
- Free delivery on orders above £50, £8 on orders below that amount.
- Responsibly and sustainably sourced.
- Air Blast Frozen at source within 4 hours of being caught.
- Wide variety to choose from.
Follow them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Note - Although I was gifted with product free of charge for the purposes of review, I was not required to write a positive review in exchange, nor would my integrity allow me to recommend anything if I did not truly like it. Any and all my opinions are my own entirely.
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at: mariealicejoan at aol dot com Thanks so much for visiting. Do come again!
Sorry to disappoint you if you came here looking for lentil soup today. I was gifted with a bag of parsnips from someones garden and I need to use them pronto, so today you are getting Spiced Parsnip & Carrot Soup. I hope you don't mind too much!
Parsnips are a root vegetable which greatly resemble really pale, ghost-like carrots! They actually belong to the same family as carrots and parsley. Left in the ground to mature until the first frost, they get really sweet. They are a delicious vegetable. At least I think they are! Even pre-frost!
My mother hated parsnips. I can remember her cooking them for us once.
She had hated them since she was a child. She fried them in butter. I
thought they were gorgeous. She still did not like them so that was the
end of that! I, however, had fallen in love and it is a love affair which I carry on right up to this day.
Parsnips make wonderful additions to soups or stews and are unbelievably delicious when roasted with some honey and butter along side of your Sunday lunch. Christmas dinner would not be half as special were it not for the inclusion of honey butter roasted parsnips!
This soup recipe I am sharing today is an adaptation of a carrot soup that I used to make when I worked down South at the manor. The original recipe uses all carrots, but I really love the taste that comes from the inclusion of parsnips.
In fact I like it even better when parsnips are used in addition to carrots.
It is flavoured as well with onion and celery . . . delicious aromatics . . .
Garlic and grated fresh ginger root . . . mmmm . . .
Curry powder for a bit of a bite. I use a medium curry powder. Todd longs for me to use a stronger curry powder . . . but alas, I don't think my insides could take anything much spicier than this!
This is also lovely with a spoonful of sour cream swirled in the top. Simple, delicious and easy to make. What more could a person want?
Spiced Parsnip & Carrot Soup
Yield: 4
Sweet and nutty with a bit of a bite! Very nice.
ingredients:
- 1 TBS light olive oil
- 1 medium onion, peeled and coarsely chopped
- 3 sticks celery, washed, trimmed and chopped
- 1 fat clove of garlic, peeled and crushed
- 1 TBS finely grated fresh ginger root
- 1/2 to 1 TBS curry powder (depending on your taste)
- pinch cayenne pepper (optional)
- salt and black pepper to taste
- 500g parsnips, peeled and chopped (a generous pound)
- 250g carrots, peeled and chopped (1/2 pound, generous)
- 1 litre of vegetable stock (abut 4 1/2 cups)
- Additional hot stock as needed
instructions:
How to cook Spiced Parsnip & Carrot Soup
- Heat the oil in a large deep saucepan. Add the chopped onion and celery, garlic, and grated ginger root. Cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, without allowing to brown. Stir in the curry powder and cook for a further 5 minutes. Add the chopped parsnips and carrots. Stir to coat well in the aromatics. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Pour in the vegetable stock. Bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook over low heat for a further 30 to 35 minutes, or until very soft. Remove from the heat and puree, using an immersion blender, until smooth. Return to the stove and add additional stock as needed to give you the right consistency. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and black pepper and a pinch of cayenne if desired. Serve immediately in heated bowls. Alternately you can pour this soup into sealable freezer containers and freeze for up to 3 months.
No worries, I will do the lentil soup next week. Up tomorrow is a Back to the 60's Prawn/Shrimp Cocktail. They call large shrimps prawns over here in the UK! Go figure!
I know today was supposed to be Chicken Schnitzels.
I didn't have any cornflakes to make crumbs with and to be honest, it just didn't feel like a Chicken Schnitzel kind of a day! I wanted something a bit more exciting!
The tomatoes in the garden are going crazy at the moment. We have lots and lots of cherry tomatoes ripening now, and its a but of a struggle to use them all up.
Oh but they taste so delicious . . . there is nothing tastier than a fresh, ripe garden tomato with the taste of the sun still on its flesh!
We've been enjoying just eating them out of hand like cherries . . . seriously tasty . . . as well as in salads, where they really shine!
My mother used to work in an office where she was the time-keeper for the section on the Armed Forces Base where they did all the maintenance on the married quarters.
There were lots and lots of civilian men employed that she had to keep track of, doing lots of jobs. Electricians, carpenters, painters, plumbers, etc.
They weren't military men, most lived out in the country side on hobby types of farms and they all loved my mother.
She was witty, and smart and cute and most important of all, nice to everyone. In the summer she used to be inundated with gifts of fresh ripe tomatoes and cucumbers from their gardens!
Of course the whole family benefited from that and we so enjoyed being able to eat our fill of these delicious summer vegetables.
I have never forgotten how good they were.
Some nights that is all we would have for supper, plates of sliced tomatoes and cucumbers and bread and butter.
So, so, sooooo tasty!
This is a really delicious way of using some of your cherry tomato garden bounty!
At its simplest it is basically thin escallops of chicken, which are seasoned and dusted with flour and then browned in a bit of olive oil with garlic and herbs . . .
It doesn't take very long to cook them at all as they are quite thin. You begin by cooking some halved ripe cherry tomatoes.
Today I had yellow and red . . oddly enough the yellow turned almost red when they were cooked.
You don't want to cook them mushy, just tender . . . Sauteed with some capers and sage, and finished with a bit of white wine, they form a beautifully rich and tasty sauce. Simple flavours done well . . .
If you wanted to you could add some ripe olives as well, then it would be almost like a puttanesca I guess, without the anchovies . . .
Yield: 2
Mediterranean Sauced Chicken Escallops
Quite simply delicious and very quick to throw together. This dish makes great use of the fresh tomatoes we have in the garden at the moment!
ingredients:
- olive oil
- 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and lightly crushed
- 150g of cherry tomatoes, halved (Approximately 1 cup)
- 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, each sliced horizontally through the middle into two escallops (4 pieces in total)
- plain flour for dusting
- salt and black pepper
- 2 tsp freeze dried crumbled sage leaves (NOT powdered)
- 3 TBS white wine
- 2 TBS marinated capers, drained and rinsed (the ones in vinegar)
- 1 TBS chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
instructions:
How to cook Mediterranean Sauced Chicken Escallops
- Heat a splash of olive oil in a large non stick frying pan. Add the garlic and tomatoes, season lightly and fry over high heat until they are just beginning to pucker a bit. Scoop the tomatoes out onto a plate and set aside. Leave in the garlic.
- Season the slices of chicken breast to taste and dredge lightly with flour, patting it into the meat and shaking off any excess. Heat another splash of olive oil in the pan. Add the sage and cook for about a minute and then add the chicken slices, presentation side down. Fry over medium high heat until they are golden and then flip them over and brown the other sides.
- Add the wine and return the tomatoes to the pan along with the capers and parsley. Let it bubble up a bit and evaporate somewhat. Cover with a lid and set aside off the heat for several minutes before serving. The juices of the chicken should run clear. Divide between two heated dinner plates. I like to serve with pan fried chipped potatoes. Simple and delicious.
This is really fresh tasting and delicious! Todd enjoyed his with some pan fried chipped potatoes. I just enjoyed the tomatoes and chicken all on their own. I like to mash the garlic into the chicken when I eat it. Oh but it is some good!
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at: mariealicejoan at aol dot com Thanks so much for visiting. Do come again!
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