Sticky Date Pudding

I have been making this for years..........we all just love it!
I call the sauce heart attack sauce-pure sugar and fat--mmmm delicious!
I think the original recipe is from a very old dinner party cook book by Australian Women's Weekly.

Sticky Date Pudding

• 1¼cups(200g) chopped dates

• 1¼cups water

• 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

• 60g butter

• ¾cup castor sugar

• 2 eggs

• 1 cup self raising flour

Butterscotch sauce

• 1 cup (200g) brown sugar, firmly packed

• 1 cup of cream

• 200g butter

Grease deep 20cm round cake pan. Line base with paper, then grease paper. Combine dates and water in pan, bring to boil, remove from heat, add soda, stand 5 minutes. Blend or process until smooth.
Cream butter and sugar in small bowl with electric mixer until well combined. Beat in eggs 1 at a time. Gently fold in sifted flour, then date mixture. Pour in mixture in into prepared pan, bake in moderate oven about 55 minutes or until cooked through. Cover pudding with foil if it becomes too dark during cooking. Stand pudding 10 minutes before turning onto wire rack over oven tray. Pour ¼ cup of sauce over pudding, return to moderate oven, bake , uncovered, further 5 minutes. Serve pudding with remaining pudding.


Butterscotch sauce:

Combine all ingredients in pan, stir over heat, without boiling, until sugar is dissolved, then simmer, stirring, 3 minutes

Notes

• I add 1 teaspoon of baking powder to flour

• I bake in greased muffin pan, cook for approx. 20-30 minutes

• I double the sauce mix

• Freezes well