It's time for some fun in the kitchen! We're going to whip together a delicious toffee pudding cake with toffee sauce. Annie Baker, pastry chef for Mustards Grill in Napa Valley, was here to share her special recipe.
Sticky Toffee Pudding Cake
(Makes about seven 4 oz portions)
Ingredients
4 1/2 oz or 7-8 medium sized Medjool Dates, pitted
½ cup Water
3 Tablespoons Butter
2/3 cup Brown sugar
1 Whole Egg
1¼ cups All Purpose Flour
1 teaspoon Baking powder
1/3 teaspoon Baking soda
Toffee Sauce
2 cups Heavy Cream
1 cup Sugar
6 Tablespoons Butter
pinch salt
1½ Tablespoons Dark Rum
Method:
Set the oven to 325 °F.
Prepare seven 4 oz aluminum foil cups with melted butter and sugar.
Place on a cookie sheet.
Make date puree by simmering the dates in water for 15 minutes.
Puree in Food Processor until smooth.
Make the cake: In a Kitchen Aid Mixer with paddle, add
Cream butter and brown sugar until light
Stir in the egg and then the date puree
Add the Flour, baking powder and baking soda, stir until combined
Using a 2oz scoop, spoon the cake batter into the prepared foil cups
Place the cakes in the 325°F oven and Bake for 45-55 minutes, until cakes are firm and set in the center.
Make the Toffee Sauce:
Combine half of the cream, then sugar and the butter in a saucepan.
Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until the mixture is golden brown.
Remove from the heat and stir in the remaining cream, pinch salt and Rum.
Serve cakes warm with vanilla ice cream and toffee sauce.
Web site:
www.mustardsgrill.com
About Annie Baker, Pastry Chef, Mustards Grill in Napa:
Annie Baker is a prime example of a professional woman who finally decided to change career direction and pursue her true passion in the pastry arts. After receiving an accounting degree from Saint Mary's College in South Bend, Indiana, Annie worked in large corporate banks in downtown Chicago. After ten years of "counting beans" and (more importantly) delighting a steadily increasing number of co-workers with the sweet treats she made at home, Annie ventured West and enrolled in the Pastry Arts Program at CIA Greystone for formal training. Annie was always creative and detail-oriented, but it was then and there that she gained the knowledge, skills and confidence needed to advance from amateur home baker to professional pastry chef.
Upon graduation, and barely a year after dining as just another tourist at Mustards Grill in the Napa Valley, Annie joined the Mustards kitchen team. She was quickly given her own pastry station to manage and develop. As Mustards Pastry Chef, she now collaborates with owner/chef Cindy Pawlcyn to create all of the wonderful and delectable desserts enjoyed by so many happy customers, year in and year out. Annie Baker is one of the kindest, friendliest people in her field, with an infectious energy and enthusiasm for life. Having transitioned from Banking to Baking, she is always eager to share personal experiences and insights into the joys of finding one's destiny later on in life, sometimes even when you least expect it.
