(Almost) Healthy Sticky Toffee Pudding

I like stodgy winter puddings, but all too often they are calorie laden and full of hidden sugar and fats. Having watched Cook Yourself Thin on Channel 4 I was impressed by the imaginative use of healthy substitutions to make classic dishes healthier and lifting their calorie content. Clever use of carrots and parsnips in the cake with some added honey means that no extra sugar is required. Nuts are used instead of fat too, apart from the sauce this pudding is positively good for you!

It's a very forgiving recipe, I was missing many of the ingredients required, and substituted again and again and it did not seem to matter at all. It makes the perfect amount of cake mix for my 6 cup silicone tin. The ingredient list looks long, but substitution is key here.


Healthyish Sticky Toffee Pudding (Serves 4)

For the cake
100g chopped stoned dates
80ml boiling water
50g brazil nuts (I only had almonds so used 100g instead)
50g pecan nuts (As above)
1 tsp honey
1 medium egg
40g buckwheat flour (I used self raising)
1 tsp vanilla extract (I had run out so did not bother)
50g grated parsnip (I used one medium parsnip - about 80g)
75g grated carrot (I used one medium - about 100g)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp black treacle (I had run out and used syrup)
Pinch of salt

Sauce
40g unsalted butter
20g black treacle (I used syrup)
20g honey
40g soft brown sugar
½ mug black tea (I did not bother)
Pinch of salt

Stone and chop the dates and place in a bowl and cover with 80ml of boiling water, leave to soak. Meanwhile grind the nuts in the food processor, once they are a powder add all the other ingredients (apart from the dates) and blitz. Slowly add some of the water from the dates until the mix is a thick cake batter. Add the dates and pulse briefly or whizz depending of you want chunks of dates or not.

Cook at gas mark 5 in a well greased silicon muffin tin, or a lined 6" square tin, for 30 to 40 mins. (You may need to cover with foil towards the end of cooking to prevent the top of the cake burning). The batter is a rather alarming shade of orange at this point but do not worry.

Meanwhile put all the sauce ingredients into a pan, bring to a simmer stirring all the time until the sauce has thickened.
Serve and enjoy.

* Fuss Free Disclaimer - I added far more sauce and cream after taking the photo!