Ginger sticky toffee pudding

Method

• step 1

  For the sponge, put the milk in a small pan and bring to the boil. Stir in the chopped dates, followed by the bicarbonate of soda then leave off the heat.

• step 2

  Put the butter, sugar, treacle and golden syrup in a large pan and gently heat, stirring until the butter is melted and the mixture is smooth. Cool for 10 minutes.

• step 3

  Butter 8 x 175ml pudding basins or 8 holes of a giant muffin tin (if you are unsure of the size, pour in water to measure them). Heat the oven to 180C/fan 160C /gas 4.

• step 4

  Stir the eggs into the butter-sugar mix, followed by the milky date mixture. Mix the flour and ground ginger briefly, then stir this in too until you have a smooth batter. Divide between the basins, sit on a baking tray and bake for 22-25 minutes or until a skewer poked into the centres comes out clean.

• step 5

  Cool the puddings for 5 minutes then carefully use a palette knife to help loosen the cakes, and turn them out of their tins.

• step 6

  Put all the sauce ingredients into a pan with a pinch of salt. Heat gently until all the sugar has dissolved, then bubble for a minute to get a syrupy consistency. Sit the cakes in a shallow ovenproof tin and evenly pour over the sauce.

• step 7

  Switch the oven to a low grill setting and heat gently until the sauce just starts to bubble around the edges. Serve with cream, ice cream or custard, if you like.