When the weather outside is frightful, a slice of vegan sticky toffee pudding is oh so delightful! We invited chef Jess of The Jam Jar to shoot her favourite festive pudding at our riverside homestay, Stella Maris.
Ingredients
For the sponge
200g vegan butter (we used Naturli)
200g organic coconut sugar
200g pitted chopped Medjool dates
200ml plant milk (we used Oatly)
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
100g gluten-free self-raising flour
200g ground almonds
1tsp baking powder
100g chopped pecan nuts
For the sauce
100g melted vegan butter
200g coconut or muscovado sugar
100ml plant-based cream (we used Oatly)
1tsp vanilla bean paste
A generous pinch of salt (we used Cornish Sea Salt!)
Method
To begin, preheat the oven to 170°c, then in a small pan, bring the plant milk and chopped dates to a boil and switch off to allow the mixture to cool. Once cooled, blend the mixture until it's smooth and thick, then transfer to a mixing bowl. Next, beat the vegan butter and sugar together with the vanilla paste until pale and fluffy, then stir into the date mixture. Finally, fold in the flour, baking powder, ground almonds and chopped pecans and pour the mix into a lined six-inch square tin. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes until springy to the touch.
Whilst the cake is baking, warm the butter, sugar, cream, sea salt and vanilla in a small heavy-based saucepan until bubbling. As soon as you remove the cake from the oven, add small holes all over the sponge with a cocktail stick, then pour half of the warm sauce over the top of the cake to soak in. Cut into nine squares and serve warm with the remaining sauce and a generous snowball of ice cream - we love Coconuts Organic Double Toffee!
Photography by Melanie Johnstone
