New Year’s sticky toffee pudding recipe

The only way to bring in the new year or the holiday season in general is sticky toffee pudding! I had my first taste of this sweet gooey goodness was at a craftfair where a burly Scottish brute of a man decked in full kilt attire shoved an enormous mouthful of the stuff in my face. When a big burly scotsman shoves pudding in your face, you don’t say no! But I fell in love instantly…with the pudding, not the scotsman haha!

So I rushed home to search for a recipe that would capture the intricate mix of flavours I tasted in that pudding for the satisfaction of my enjoyment all year round. But most of the recipes I found were brown sugar-based but I wanted the deep and intense flavour of molasses. Admittedly some recipes did have some molasses but only a tablespoon or 2 in the whole recipe which in my opinion…is just weak sauce.

So I made my own and adapted it from a few different recipes.

Sticky Toffee Pudding Recipe – Scrapaperdoll Edition

Cake

1 cup chopped dates

2/3 cup hot water

1/4 cup butter – softened

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 large egg – room temperature

4 tablespoons dark molasses

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup cake flour (very important to use cake flour, not all purpose flour)

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

Sauce

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 tbsp butter

2 tbsp dark molasses

pinch of salt

1/2 cup heavy cream – heated slightly so as not to be as cold as the fridge

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 4 small baking cups. I recommend the Michaels ceramic baking dishes.

   

2. Add hot water to chopped dates to soften the dates. Set aside.
3. Cream butter and brown sugar using a spatula until well combined.
4. Beat the egg, add the molasses and vanilla. Combine with the butter mixture.
5. Sift Flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda in a separate bowl. Mix well. Gently fold the flour mixture with the butter/egg mixture until the batter is just combined.
6. Use a blender or food processor to purée the dates and hot water. It doesn’t have to be the consistency of butternut squash soup, just smaller pieces with a few chunks is fine. The chunks add a bit of texture differences in the cake but not too much so that it interferes with the normal chemistry of the cake-baking.
   Fold the dates into the cake batter.
7. Pour batter into the ceramic baking dishes and set the baking dishes onto a baking sheet. Pop into oven and bake for 25 minutes or until the a toothpick inserted in the top comes out clean.
8. While the cake is baking, make the sauce. Add the brown sugar, butter, salt and molasses to a sauce pan and cook the sugar mixture on medium heat with gentle stirring every 30 seconds until the mixture thickens. It’s difficult to tell when the sugar caramelizes because it’s already dark coloured but use your nose. You can smell when it begins to caramelize but be sure not to burn the sugar.
9. Once the mixture thickens to your liking, gently stir in 1/4 cup of the warmed cream. Reserve the other 1/4 cup. Don’t use cream directly from the fridge because it may cause the sugar to sieze. Heat the cream in a separate sauce pan slightly to bring it to room temperature.
   Gently add 2 more tablespoons of cream after a few minutes from the reserved 1/4 cup. Once the mixture has thickened, bring it off the heat and let it sit until the cake has finished baking.

   Troubleshooting: If the butter separates from the mixture, gently stir in more of the reserved cream on the stove one tbsp at a time until the butter incorporates into the sauce and it thickens again.

10. When the cake is done baking, invert while still hot onto a plate and generously pour the hot sauce over the cake. Serve with a piping mug of coffee…or spiced rum haha!

This cake is the softest moistest cake I’ve ever made, even without the toffee sauce, this is an amazing cake, the sauce just pushes it over the edge! I can definitely use the cake with a glaze or ganache. It is just so flexible! Instead of dates, I can even use figs or cranberries as well.

Enjoy and leave your comments below!

5 craft fair treasures for the thrifty crafter in need of inspiration

I recently visited a few craft fairs before Christmas. One was at the PNE forum called Make It! and the other was at the local Croatian Cultural Centre which was jovially called the “Last Minute Christmas Market” as it was held quite close to Christmas day. I love attending craft fairs because they’re so full of ideas, creativity, imagination and inspiration. I’m always amazed by what people can accomplish using simple every day materials. Below are a few examples of the wonderful things I saw.

*Disclaimer: I don’t make royalties for posting the following vendors on my blog, I just thought they were pretty awesome and I would like to share them with the world.

List of awesome inspiring creations found at the craft fairs:

1. Repurposed books and book covers

Someone was selling journals and coasters and intricate hanging art made from repurposed old books. Below is an example from another person’s online store…I couldn’t find the original one that I saw, but you get the idea.

repurposed book cover journal

Here’s a link for more ideas and instructions on how to make your creations from old books you have lying around.

2. Vanilla Beans

Lots of people were selling cheap vanilla beans, some places were 2 beans for $5, I even saw 5 beans for $12 which is really a steal considering they can go for $12 per bean in some places. So I definitely recommend stocking up on vanilla beans when you visit craft fairs. They’re usually hidden in random food stands but you’ll find them.

3. Coconama Gourmet Chocolates

A japanese chef has been spreading the love of gourmet ganache chocolates all over town at basically every craft fair I’ve been to. And let me tell you, his chocolates are divine!

They’re creamy, soft, delicate and bursting with flavour. He takes draws on a lot of his asian roots and creates really unique flavours like lemon basil, cherry blossom, dark chilli but the best by far is matcha. You can tell that the chef uses only the finest ingredients and even the white chocolates were very flavourful. Usually I don’t like white chocolates because they’re just overwhelmingly sweet, but not these ones, these are mostly just full of flavour with just the right amount of sweetness.

I definitely recommend trying out these chocolates or you may find some other delicious gourmet chocolates you might find at your local craft fairs. But if you’d like a taste of these gourmet goodies, you can purchase them online here at www.coconama.com.

4. Essential Oils

Essential oils are generally pretty pricey, if any of you make your own soap or own a nebulizer, you’d know what I’m talking about. In general, a 5 ml bottle costs between 12-30 dollars at places like Saje and Escents. But at craft fairs, a multitude of people will some sell them at a 10-50% discount. You can usually find them at the stands for homemade soaps, lotions, and candles.

For example I bought a 20 ml bottle of 100% lavender oil sourced from France for 15 dollars. It has a nice intense scent, not weak like other lavender oils I’ve sniffed.

I even found a stand devoted solely to selling essential oils. But I do have to warn that you should go into some trusted stores like Saje to have a sniff of the essential oils so you know what you’re looking for. Make sure to check:

1. where they sourced the oils

2. pricing from one oil to the next, different oils should cost differently. It should be a clear flag for fraudulence if the oils all cost the same price.

3. storage bottles – the bottles should be dark coloured to protect from light which damages the oils and reduces their quality.

4. how they smell – You should have some idea of how each oil is supposed to smell, if something smells foul or funky, it’s probably been contaminated or not what it’s advertised to be. Just trust your senses.

5. Crochet Garments

Scarves, hats, mittens, coats, mug cozies galore!

If you’re looking for some hand knit ideas and inspirations craft fairs are chock full of them. I didn’t want to take pictures of any of the wares because I wasn’t planning to buy so it would look really bad if I did. Therefore I’ll show pictures that look like the creations I saw some of which are located at this 9gag post.

but you can find other things like cozies for your mugs and mason jars like these:

Here’s a cup cozy my BFF made for me for Christmas:

My caramel brule latte all warm and fuzzy coated in sheep. Hahaha, I call it sheep because she used real wool, not acrylic.

And there were so many knit items for babies, everything from blankets, to bibs to jackets and booties. If you don’t knit for babies, you will after attending a craft fair haha!

Bonus!

As soon as I saw these, I was instantly intrigued and in love with them:

Giggle

They’re called giggles and they’re a puppet that wraps around your arm. Sort of reminded me of a sloth wanting some cuddles. Feeling lonely? Need a friend? Need a hug? Not to worry, you’ve got all a cuddly friend in a Giggle!

You just put your arm through the puppet, then wrap the arms and legs around you which clip together likely via a Velcro attachment.

You can check them out here.

That’s it for now, so stop reading and go find a craft fair! They often come in the spring, fall and winter.