Sticky Toffee Pudding

Have you tried Haagen Dazs new ice cream flavours? Even though they were endorsed by Gourmet, the sticky toffee flavour is a good idea for the Pride and Prejudice set: caramel, cake, cream and dates. Be still my beating heart beneath my restrictive social norms. I definitely incline towards those squishy steamed English desserts. Sticky toffee seemed as good as any to try and so I yanked the recipe from the Gourmet cookbook, with a few revisions. It is wonderfully sticky and gooey and tastes best with a chunk of vanilla ice cream plus the molten caramel sauce layered over top. It is also a good way to convert a date-hater into a date-lover. Mr. Darcy not included.

Sticky Toffee Pudding
Cake:
2 cups (10 ounces) pitted dates
2 2/3 cups water
3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
3 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups self-rising flour (not cake flour) [I added 1/2 teaspoon baking powder to 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour instead of using self-rising flour]
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

Sauce:
1 cup heavy cream
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon Lyle's Golden Syrup (I used 1 tablespoon corn syrup instead)

Make the Cake:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. The original recipe called for six 8-ounce ramekins, which I don't have, so I used a buttered and floured 9x13 oval baking dish.

Combine dates and water in a 1- to 2-quart saucepan and bring to a boil. Cool to room temperature. Puree cooled date mixture with baking soda in a food processor until just combined (I used a food mill).

Beat butter and brown sugar until pale and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time and beat after each addition, then beat in vanilla. Mix in flour. Add pureed date mixture and stir until just mixed. Divide mixture among ramekins.

Place ramekins on a baking sheet and bake 20-30 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Make the Sauce:
Combine cream, butter, brown sugar and syrup in a 1- to 2-quart saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring. Boil until sauce is reduced to 1 1/3 cups and thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon, about 3 to 5 minutes.