BRYANNA'S QUICK AND EASY "STICKY TOFFEE PUDDING" CAKE

 Servings: 6

This is based on a traditional English dessert called "Sticky Toffee Pudding", but made in the same way as the North American "pudding cake", which starts with a batter on the bottom and sugar and liquid on top, and ends up as a light cake with a sweet sauce on the bottom. I made the dessert in a veganized version of the original recipe, and then tried it this way. We liked this one better because it wasn't quite as sweet and it required much less time and effort!

Dry Mix:  

1 1/4 cups    wholewheat pastry flour (do not use regular wholewheat flour or the cake may be tough)  

1/3 cup    brown sugar  

2 teaspoons    baking powder  

1/4 teaspoon    salt  

Additional:  

3/4 cup    chopped pitted dates  

Optional:  

1/2 cup    chopped pecans (this isn't traditional, but it's good!)  

Wet Mix:  

3/4 cup    non-dairy milk  

1 tsp    pure vanilla extract  

Topping:  

3/4 cup    brown sugar  

1 1/2 cups    boiling water  

1 tablespoon    Earth Balance  

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray an 8" square pan with oil from a pump sprayer.

Whisk together Dry Mix ingredients in a medium bowl. Add the chopped dates and optional pecans, if you are using them. Mix them in with your fingers so that the dates don't clump up all together.

Whisk together the Wet Mix ingredients in a smaller bowl. Pour the Wet Mix into the Dry Mix and stir briefly just to mix into a batter. Spread into the prepared pan.

Sprinkle the brown sugar evenly on top of the cake batter. Mix the boiling water and Earth Balance together. Pour gently over the cake batter and sugar, dribbling it evenly over the batter, not pouring it all into one spot. DON"T MIX THE WATER IN! It looks like a swamp, but, trust me this will be fine! Bake 35 minutes. The cake will be on top, with a sticky "toffee" sauce on the bottom. Serve warm (maybe with your favorite vanilla frozen dessert??).

VARIATION: For Praline Pudding Cake, omit the dates and use the optional 1/2 cup chopped pecans instead.

 Nutrition Facts without pecans: