Easy Sticky Toffee Pudding

Okay so I'm in the middle of an exam-week and I don't have enough time to really bake something. But I do like to indulge in something that I normally wouldn't eat (for fear of my pencil-skirts not fitting properly). I came across this Easy Sticky Toffee Pudding by Nigella Lawson, and the word 'Easy' drew my attention immediately. Nigella writes that this pudding tastes "cosy and comforting and indulgent", just what I need! But I also need something that is yummy-yummy delicious and you can't contain yourself with. Unfortunately this toffee pudding doesn't do that for me. The 'cake' tasted rather bland, even though it was soaked (and I do mean soaked) in a sauce (that btw had an overpowering dark brown sugar taste to it). Also, I think the recipe calls for too much boiling water. At the end of the process, before it goes into the oven, you have to add 2 cups boiling water. One cup would have been enough. So all in all, I don't recommend this toffee pudding (unless you're craving for some dark brown sugar).

Easy Sticky Toffee Pudding recipe: Nigella Lawson - Nigella.com

Ingredients for the Cake:
- 100g (1/2 cup) dark muscovado sugar or dark brown sugar
- 175g (1 1/4 cup) self-raising flour
- 125ml (1/2 cup) full-fat milk
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 50g (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, melted
- 200g chopped, rolled dates

Ingredients for the Sauce:
- 200g (1 cup) dark muscovado sugar or dark brown sugar
- 25g (1 ounce) unsalted butter, in little blobs
- 500ml (2 cups) boiling water (I think 1 cup of boiling water is enough!)

Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 375°F/190°C and butter a 1 1/2-litre capacity pudding dish. (I don't have a pudding dish, so I used a pie-pan)
- Combine the dark muscovado sugar or dark brown sugar with the flour in a large bowl.
- Pour the milk into a measuring jug, beat in the egg, vanilla and melted butter and then pour this mixture over the sugar and flour, stirring – just with a wooden spoon – to combine.
- Fold in the dates then scrape into the prepared pudding dish. Don’t worry if it doesn’t look very full: it will do by the time it cooks.
- Sprinkle over 1 cup dark muscovado sugar or dark brown sugar and dot with the butter.
- Pour over the boiling water (yes really!) and transfer to the oven.
- Set the timer for 45 minutes, though you might find the pudding needs 5 or 10 minutes more. The top of the pudding should be springy and spongy when it’s cooked; underneath, the butter, dark muscovado sugar and boiling water will have turned into a rich, sticky sauce.
- Serve with vanilla ice cream, crème fraîche, double or single cream as you wish. Serves 6 - 8.


The cake batter. Not very tasty, might have needed some salt.

Adding the dark brown sugar for the sauce.

And some butter blobs.

This is what it looks like when I added the 2 cups of boiling water!

Fresh out of the oven!

This is how it's supposed to look like: