Self Saucing Sticky Toffee Coffee Pudding

Quite the mouthful

Happy Friday!

You’ve surely heard of sticky toffee pudding but have you ever heard of a self saucing sticky toffee coffee pudding? Okay, probably not, because until this week I doubt it existed, but thankfully now does, let me tell you all about it. If you’ve never had a self saucing pudding before, let me sing their praises. Firstly, I am of course, talking about a British pudding, not the American custard style dessert, but a traditional, warming, stick to your ribs pudding. We could get into the full etymology of the word and discuss what pudding does and doesn’t encompass but I think that is for another time? To give a short explainer, pudding to a Brit can mean either any dessert, i.e. ‘whats for pudding’, or it can mean something a little more specific, a traditional baked or steamed pudding that is often served with custard. As I mentioned there is a whole rabbit warren we could fall down, trying to truly understand the origins and meaning of ‘pudding’, but for todays purpose I think that is a detailed enough explanation. Self saucing puddings are a piece of culinary magic, a pudding batter is made and scraped into your baking vessel and then, on top of that, a mixture of water and sugar is carefully added. As the pudding bakes the water mixture seeps through the pudding, absorbing a little of the starch from the flour, creating a layer of hidden sauce underneath the finished pudding, it's miraculous.

For this self saucing pudding I wanted to make something that was a spin on the ever popular sticky toffee pudding; it’s a favourite of mine and with a storm approaching my part of the world, I wanted nothing more than something simple and warming, to make and enjoy. For the pudding itself I stuck to a pretty classic formula but the self saucing element was obviously not traditional and the additional coffee element a bit of a curve ball. The idea came from the fabulous date shakes that are popular in the Palm Springs and Joshua Tree region of California, the date and coffee are a great combo and I wanted to try it here in this pudding. Originally I thought about adding the coffee to the sauce mixture but, because this pudding screams out for custard, I decided to make a simple coffee custard. I thought if the pudding was served hot and the custard cold, it would almost be like having melted coffee ice cream with the pudding. The end result was a truly fabulous dessert, a great example of a sticky toffee pudding with added self saucing capabilities and a coffee custard that goes perfectly with the pudding.

The custard element is incredibly simple, a great example of a simple infusion. The custard is made with a mixture of milk and cream and this fatty base is a great foil for infusion; the fat in cream is a great carrier of flavour and can excellently absorb a ton of flavour from the coffee. I prefer to do a hot infusion so I bring the milk, cream and coffee to a simmer then set it aside for an hour or so to steep, to allow the dairy to absorb as much of the coffee flavour as possible. At this point the mixture is brought back to a simmer and then strained so we have a smooth base to make our custard with. At this point you proceed making the custard as you normally would. The result is a rich and fairly strong coffee custard which can be served hot or cold. Personally I love it cold because it reminds me of coffee ice cream and it also provides a point of contrast against the hot dessert.

The one thing this dessert does badly is that it cannot be made in advance. The downside of self saucing puddings is that, if they are left to sit, the sauce at the bottom of the pudding will do one of two things; if the sauce includes cornflour, it will gelatinise as it cools and if it doesn’t it kind of absorbs back into the pudding making for a significantly less saucy dish. Thankfully, even though you’ll be making this as and when you want to serve it, it’s a surprisingly simple dish to throw together so its not as if you’ll have to leave your friends and family for a significant amount of time to bring this together. And, don’t forget, the custard element is happily made in advance, so thats at least something you can prep ahead of time.

Self Saucing Sticky Toffee Coffee Pudding
Serves 6-8

Coffee Custard

150ml double cream

150ml whole milk

2 tbsp coarsely ground coffee

4 large egg yolks

50g caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla bean paste

Sticky Toffee Pudding

165g dates, roughly chopped

160ml water

1 black tea bag

60g unsalted butter, melted

60g black treacle

150g light brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 large eggs

165g self raising flour

2 tsp ground cinnamon

2 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp fine sea salt

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Sauce

125g light brown sugar

150ml hot water

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Start by making the custard.

To make the custard, add the cream, milk and coffee to a medium sized saucepan and set over a medium heat and bring the mixture to a simmer. Once at temperature, remove from the heat, cover, and set aside for an hour or so to infuse. The cream mixture will turn a wonderful shade of light brown, giving you a good visual clue that it has taken on the flavour of the coffee. Bring the mixture back to a simmer and then strain, through a fine mesh sieve, into a jug to remove all of the ground coffee. As the mixture comes back to temperature whisk together the yolks, sugar and vanilla, whisking until light and pale.

Pour the infused milk mixture onto the yolks, whisking as you do so to prevent the yolks from scrambling, and then pour this custard back into the saucepan. Place the pan back on a low heat and cook, stirring constantly, until the custard has thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon. If you want to check, with a thermometer, that the custard is fully cooked, it is ready once it reaches between 80ºC and 85ºC. Pour the custard into a jug and, to prevent a skin from forming, press a sheet of clingfilm onto the surface of the custard. Refrigerate until needed.

To make the pudding, preheat the oven to 180ºC (160ºC Fan). Add the dates, water and tea bag to a small saucepan and place over low/medium heat and cook, until most of the moisture has cooked out and you have an almost paste like consistency. Remove the pan from the heat and discard the tea bag.

Add the butter, treacle, sugar, vanilla and eggs to a large bowl and whisk together until fully combined. Add the flour, spices and salt and whisk, briefly, just until a mostly smooth cake batter is formed. Don’t worry if there is the odd bit of flour showing, the batter will be mixed again in a moment so it does not need to perfectly smooth. Add the bicarbonate of soda to the date mixture and mix together, just until even distributed. The dates will foam up a little but that is normal and to be expected. Immediately scrape the dates into the pudding batter and mix together until evenly combined. Scrape the cake batter into a deep 9inch roasting dish or cake pan and spread into an even layer.

To make the sauce, simply mix together the sugar, water and vanilla in a large jug. Carefully pour the sauce atop the batter. The idea is to avoid breaking the surface of the batter so you want to pour carefully. The best advice for this is to pour the sauce in a slow stream onto a spoon just above the surface of the pudding so it lightly drizzles on top of the pudding. To be honest, the only real thing this does it make for a pretty end result, if you do break the surface of the pudding don’t fret, it will still be delicious and will still work just as well.

Carefully transfer the pudding to preheated oven and bake for about 35-40 minutes or until the cake springs back to a light touch. Remove from the oven and serve immediately, with a generous portion of the coffee custard. You’ll know the pudding was successful when you scoop out the first portion and hiding underneath is a generous layer of sauce.

Whilst the self saucing effect will disappear once the pudding has had a chance to cool, the reheated leftovers will still be delicious for 2-3 days.