STICKY TOFFEE PUDDING

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F and line a 9-inch pan with butter (a 9 inch square pan is fine too).
2. In a small bowl, stir together the chopped dates and coffee and set aside. The coffee adds a nice level of depth to the cake, and you can barely taste it. But if you would prefer, use hot water instead. Set aside.
3. In another bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt, then set aside.
4. Cream the butter and brown sugar together until creamy and light. You can use any kind of brown sugar you like. I prefer Muscovado because it has a richer flavor.
5. Gradually add in the eggs and vanilla and beat for several minutes.
6. Stir in ½ of the flour mixture, followed by the date mixture, followed by the rest of the flour mixture.
7. Pour the batter into the prepared tin and bake for 25-30 min or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
8. Pierce the cake multiple times using a skewer or chopstick. This ensures that the cake will absorb all of the toffee sauce.
9. To prepare the toffee sauce, combine the butter, brown sugar and cream in a saucepan over medium heat.
10. Stir the mixture constantly until it melts and bring it to a boil. Reduce the flame to medium-low and boil for around 5 minutes until the mixture thickens. You can also do this step in the microwave, stirring after every minute.
11. Add the salt, and you can also add 1 tsp of vanilla extract should you wish. In the video, the sauce appears darker than normal due to the color of the sugar. A lighter brown sugar will result in a lighter toffee sauce.
12. Pour the toffee sauce over the cake, reserving ½ cup for topping.
13. Serve the cake warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, then drizzle some of the remaining sauce over the top.
14. I usually store the cake in the refrigerator and then microwave a piece when it is ready to eat.

Source: http://www.hotchocolatehits.com