Felicity Cloake's Sticky Toffee Pudding - Monday November 5th 2012

Well we actually had slow roast leg of lamb, boned stuffed and roasted for hours. But I forgot to take photos it was so delicious and I just wanted to thrust it down my gaping throat.

mmmmmmmm.....

and as it was a birthday celebration for Rebekah, we had cake and pudding too - pudding being a Sticky Toffee Pudding.

I have not made this before, so took myself off to check out Felicity Cloake's Guardian column for the best recipe (she tries things out so we don't have to...)  . I made her version, sort of. No spice although I did add a little cinnamon to the cake mixture. No nuts. And I did go with Jamie Oliver's sauce recipe. But not in the bottom as well as the top. So it was a sorta Felicity pudding.

But I wanted to eat dinner in peace, and then come out to a bubbling pudding, so I had made the pudding in advance and then put the dish into the oven to heat through instead of grilling it. Look  - it was very hopeful. All covered in its caramel sauce.

However, this was NOT a good idea. The heat was too high, the sauce split and I was left with pale curd sitting in a large puddle of butter. Oh dear. Letting it cool and sort of stirring round on the top of the pudding helped to mix it back again, but next time I will certainly be careful of the temperature I use, or I will reheat the pudding on its own, then add the caramel sauce afterwards.

Loved the pudding itself though. It tasted as it should, nicely date-y and dark and very light. I had a little too much mixture for my dish so cooked some in a small dish to make a light cake without caramel sauce. I haven't cut into that so I will be interested to see if it does eat well as a plain cake.