Warm and Delicious Sticky Toffee Pudding

This dish had been on my "to try" list for way too long and this weekend I realized I had all the ingredients and people coming over for dinner... a perfect storm.
If you like the traditional English dessert, which is swimming with toffee sauce and has enough sugar to rot our your teeth (fillings and all), you will love this. Of course it has lots of sugar so it's not really "healthy," but it is much healthier than other versions because it doesn't have too much soy butter, plus of course no eggs or cream, etc.  And it's easier than it first appears!

Sticky Toffee Pudding
Ingredients for cake:

• 1.5 cups pitted dated, roughly chopped
• 1.5 cups almond or oat milk
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 cup Earth Balance (or other vegan butter substitute), lightly softened
• 1/2 cup unpacked brown sugar (75 grams)
• 3/4 cup toasted chopped pecans, divided
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt
• 1 & 1/4 cups whole wheat flour

Ingredients for the toffee sauce:

• 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp brown rice syrup
• 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp unpacked brown sugar (35 grams) OR Sucanat
• 3 tbsp Earth Balance
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp almond or oat milk
• 1/4 tsp salt

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 325F and toast the pecans for about 8-10 mins. Now, preheat oven to 375F. Grease a 9-inch pie dish or an 8-inch square pan with Earth Balance.



milk and date mixture on stovetop



2. In a medium sized pot, bring 1.5 cups of almond milk to a low boil. Add in the chopped and pitted dates and reduce heat to low. Cook for 1 minute, remove from heat, and stir in baking soda. It will froth up a bit.



3. In a large bowl, whisk together the softened Earth Balance and brown sugar until no clumps remain. You can also use an electric mixer if desired. Now add in the date & almond milk mixture and stir.





Milk and date mixture frothing with the baking soda



4. Add the dry ingredients (cinnamon, salt, 1/2 cup of pecans, and flour) into the wet and stir until just combined. Spoon the mixture into the prepared dish.

5. Bake at 375F for 27-28 minutes, or until the cake gently springs back when you touch it.

6. Toffee sauce: About 10 mins before the cake is done, make your toffee sauce by whisking together the sauce ingredients in a pot (use the same one). Bring to a low simmer over medium heat, and then reduce heat to low, whisking frequently making sure it doesn’t burn. Heat for about 5 minutes while standing over the pot to stir & watch. Remove from heat and set aside.

7. Remove cake from oven, let it cool for a few minutes, and then prick with a fork all over. Pour 2/3 of the toffee sauce over the top of the cake (reserving the other 1/3 of the sauce for later) and smooth out with a spoon.

Cake out of the oven, cooling before sticking a million times with a fork

8. Scoop out your portions onto plates, drizzle with remaining sauce, and top with toasted pecans.