sticky toffee pudding

Sticky toffee pudding, also known as sticky date pudding in Australia and New Zealand, is a British dessert consisting of a moist sponge cake, made with finely chopped dates (optional), covered in a toffee sauce and often served with a vanilla custard or vanilla ice-cream. It is considered a British classic by various culinary experts. Composition A sticky toffee pudding has two essential components, sponge cake and toffee sauce. The first, is a moist sponge cake, containing finely chopped dates. The sponge is usually light and fluffy, closer to a muffin consistency rather than a heavier traditional British sponge, and is often lightly flavoured with nuts or spices such as cloves. The date component is, however, optional. The second key element, is the toffee sauce, usually made from double cream and different dark sugars (brown sugar, jaggery, molasses sugar, muscovado, panela, peen tong ), depending on recipe. A sticky toffee pudding is most commonly served with custard or vanilla ice cream, the vanilla flavour of these complementing the richer flavours of the pudding. It may also be served with single cream. Origins The origins of sticky toffee pudding are disputed. Owners of several pubs, including the Gait Inn in Millington, East Riding of Yorkshire (claimed to 1907) and the Udny Arms Hotel in Newburgh, Aberdeenshire (1960s), claim to have invented it.