While I think even a bad sticky toffee pudding is still better than no sticky toffee pudding, this one is pretty great. It’s soft, moist, flavourful and makes everyone smile.
Sticky Toffee Pudding Recipe
Makes 24
Sticky toffee cake
Ingredients:
100g boiling water
100g pitted dates
½ tsp baking soda
30g soft butter
20g golden syrup
30g brown sugar
2 eggs
80g flour (gluten free, if desired)
1 tsp baking powder
Brownie tin (16 x 26cm, and 3.5cm deep), lined with baking paper and spray – Anything roughly the same dimensions will work.
Method:
Preheat the oven to 160°C and line the tin. Pour the boiling water over the dates and baking soda. Leave to sit for 15 minutes before blending into a paste with a stick blender (my preferred method) or crushing the dates with the water using a fork or a potato masher. Set aside. Mix the butter, golden syrup and sugar together in a bowl until smooth. Whisk in the eggs one at a time, followed by the date paste. It may be watery and look split at this point, but don’t worry.
Whisk in the flour and baking powder until well combined. Pour into the lined tin and level out with a palette knife. Bake for 20–25 minutes, until the cake is just set to the touch in the centre. Remove from the oven and allow to cool before using a large bread knife to level off the top of the cake if needed (and eat the scraps!).
Sticky toffee sauce
Ingredients:
60g butter
120g brown sugar
30g golden syrup
75g cream
1⁄4 tsp vanilla bean paste 1⁄4 tsp salt
Method:
Mix all the ingredients together in a pot. Bring to the boil, whisking constantly, and cook to 105°C. Pour 80g of sauce on top of the trimmed, cooled cake and spread over the surface. Refrigerate the cake while you make the bavarois, and store the remaining sauce in the fridge.
Brown butter bavarois
Ingredients:
25g butter
1½ sheets gelatine
125g milk
30g brown sugar
2 egg yolks
150g cream
Method:
Cook the butter in a small pot over a medium heat, whisking constantly until it is a fragrant, nutty brown. Set aside to cool to room temperature. Soak the gelatine sheets in cold water until soft. Drain and set aside. Begin by making an anglaise, bring the milk to a boil in a small pot while you whisk the sugar and egg yolks together in a bowl. Pour a small amount of the hot milk into the brown sugar mix. Whisk to combine then pour this back into the pot. Whisk, then return to a low heat. Stir constantly with a spatula until the anglaise thickens slightly, or reaches 75°C. Remove from the heat and pass through a sieve into a large bowl. Whisk in the brown butter and gelatine. Leave to cool either at room temperature or in the fridge, stirring every 5 minutes, until the anglaise has reached 30–35°C, or body temperature. Whip the cream to medium peaks and fold into the cooled anglaise until just combined. Use immediately. Pour the bavarois over the cooled cake and level off with a palette knife.
Freeze overnight or until solid.
Milk chocolate glaze
Ingredients:
1¼ sheets gelatine
110g milk chocolate
50g milk
15g liquid glucose
Method:
Soak the gelatine sheets in cold water until soft. Drain and put in a bowl with the chocolate. Bring the milk and glucose to a boil in a small pot. Remove from the heat and whisk in the chocolate and gelatine. Allow to cool to between 30 and 35°C, or body temperature, before using. It should be at the correct consistency (first image, below).
Remove your gâteau from the freezer. Remove your gâteau from the tin, discard the baking paper it’s on, and put it on a fresh sheet of baking paper. Pour the glaze over one side of the mousse, moving quickly from the top corner down to the bottom (second image, below). I do this by pouring from the top left corner to the bottom left, then dragging the glaze to the right side, but your technique may differ depending on your dominant hand (I am right-handed). Use a large palette knife to drag the glaze to the other side of the gâteau (third image, below). You need to completely cover the top of the gâteau with the glaze in one or two swift movements. After that it will start to set and you’ll cause some serious damage trying to move it around. The edges of the gâteau will not be pretty. The main part you want to focus on is the centre of the gâteau will transform from a slightly ugly duckling to a beautiful swan right before your eyes.
Allow the glaze to set. At this point you will have a gâteau ready to be portioned. The key with pouring the glaze is to be confident. Pour more than you need and let the excess run off. Once the glaze has set, don’t disturb it, as touching it will make obvious marks and imperfections.
Portioning
Portion the gâteau into 24 pieces that are 4 x 4cm squares. Store in the freezer and defrost before finishing. Follow the Portioning Instructions.
To finish
Sticky toffee sauce
Gold leaf
Spoon the remaining toffee sauce into a piping bag and cut a small 1mm hole. Pipe a zigzag shaped squiggle over the top of each gateau and finish with a touch of gold leaf.
This recipe extract is from Patisserie Made Simple: The Art of Petits Gâteaux by Maxine Sheckter, available April in NZ and AUS. Photography by Amber-Jayne Bain.
