Sticky date pudding recipe

I used to believe that I am not a pudding person, until I tasted the sticky toffee pudding with caramel sauce in Cafe Juanita. It was love at first bite, and I decided to look for similar recipes. I have the Assumption High School Class of '79 Cookbook (Pearl Edition) and found a related recipe for Sticky Date Pudding by Marivic Puyat Limcaoco. Okay, this may not be as moist as the Cafe Juanita version but it's also good. My only problem was finding dates in the grocery ~ good thing the hubby found me a huge jar in the Metro Gaisano grocery in The Fort's Market!Market!

Btw, this cake is great with coffee!

1. Put 170 grams pitted dates in a bowl, sprinkle with 1 tsp. baking soda, pour with about 1 1/4 cups boiling water then set aside.

2. Cream 1/4 cup unsalted butter and 3/4 cup brown sugar - approximately five minutes.

3. In another bowl, beat together two eggs and 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla. Add half of the egg mixture into the butter mixture and beat until fully mixed. Add remainder of the egg mixture and mix well again.

4. When done, add 1 1/4 cups self-raising flour and mix at low speed. (In the absence of self raising flour, substitute with the same amount of all purpose flour, then add 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder and 1/2 tsp. salt.)

Fold in dates. Pour batter in greased loaf pan, bundt pan or 8-inch round pan.

5.Bake in preheated 360F oven for 25 minutes or until done (insert toothpick in center to check doneness).

6. In the meantime, make caramel sauce by mixing together in a saucepan 1 1/2 cups thick cream, 2 cups packed brown sugar, 250 grams butter and 1 1/2 tsps. vanilla extract.

7. When pudding is done. let cool and prick all over with a skewer. Drizzle with caramel sauce and return to the oven for two more minutes.

8. Serve pudding warm with caramel sauce, vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.