Spiced pumpkin & Sang Som rum sticky toffee pudding with coconut toffee sauce.

Ingredients

For the pudding:

175g, self-raising flour.

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon.

1 teaspoon ground ginger.

½ teaspoon ground nutmeg.

1 teaspoon baking powder.

1 teaspoon sea salt.

140g dark, soft brown sugar.

85g softened butter.

2 large eggs, beaten.

500ml coconut cream.

2 tea bags.

100g medjool dates, de-seeded.

400g pumpkin puree (homemade is best but tinned works well).

1 tablespoon Sang Som rum (or brandy is tasty).

For the coconut toffee sauce:

175g, palm sugar (light muscovado sugar can be used as a replacement).

50g butter, chopped into cubes.

225ml coconut cream.

1 tablespoon black treacle.

Optional tablespoon of Sang Som rum if feeling naughty.

Optional pinch of sea salt.

Optional garnishes:

10g, toasted coconut.

Scoops of your favourite ice cream.

Method

1.      Pre-heat the oven to 170 degrees centigrade. Sieve together the self-raising flour, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, baking powder & salt. Next, warm coconut milk in a medium pan with the tea bags and simmer for 1 minute to infuse the coconut with the tea. Then remove the tea bags and add the medjool dates, allowing them to melt into the coconut milk. You may want to use a food processor, or a stick blender to combine these thoroughly to a consistent paste. However, its nice if the dates are chunky too so don’t worry too much.

2.      Beat the softened butter and the dark sugar together in a large bowl for a few minutes (the mixture will be grainy from the sugar), then add the eggs, a little at a time until all is combined. Alternatively use a mixer on a medium to high speed until pale and fluffy (around 3 minutes). Then finish by reducing the speed and gradually adding the eggs. Finish by adding the pumpkin puree and the Sang Som rum and combine well.

3.      Next, fold in half the flour, then half the coconut & date mixture to the eggs and sugar. Then the last of the flour and the last of the coconut & date mixture and then combine until all ingredients are mixed. The mix should be a light, toffee coloured and pourable, but at the same time quite thick. Pour this mixture into a deep buttered baking tray, deep enough for the mix to rise a little in the oven (I place some parchment paper in it too to aid in removing it from the tray later) and then place on the middle shelf of the pre-heated oven for 50 minutes to 1 hour, until risen and firm throughout.

4.      Meanwhile make the coconut toffee sauce. Put the palm sugar, butter and coconut milk in a medium saucepan and gently bring to a boil, stirring regularly with a wooden spoon. Once all ingredients are combined, add the black treacle and the rum and then continue to simmer gently for around 3-5 minutes until it is a rich, light toffee colour. Remove from the heat when ready, if its too thick for your liking, loosen with a little more coconut cream and if you want full indulgence, give it a pinch of salt to turbo charge the flavour.

Once the pudding is cooked throughout (check by putting a knife through the middle gently, it should slide through easily and come out clean when the pudding is cooked), remove from the oven and wait a few minutes so it can be handled. Delicately remove from the tray, lifting by grabbing the parchment paper and then chop into portion sizes. This recipe chops into roughly 6-8 portions based on the baking tin you used and how big your portion size is. Serve the pudding warm, covered in the sauce and topped with toasted coconut for texture. For that extra indulgence stick some of your favourite Ice cream on top slowly