A Perfect Winter Dessert for Any Time of the Year
This is a wonderful, sweet and warming dessert that we’ve been baking in the Monday Morning Cooking Club kitchen since 2010. It is adapted from a recipe first given to us by Sharon Hendler, one of the cooks in our first book, who found it on her travels in South Africa. You find the recipe in our most recent book, Now for Something Sweet. It is a winner.
Photos by Alan Benson
Butterscotch Pudding with Caramel Sauce
Ingredients
- 125 g butter (unsalted) at room temperature
- 2/3 cup dark brown sugar lightly packed
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 eggs lightly beaten
- 1 cup Self-Raising (Self-Rising) flour
- 1 teaspooon baking powder
- pinch of salt
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- SAUCE
- 100 g sugar (scant 1/2 cup)
- 100 g dark brown sugar (1/2 cup, firmly packed)
- pinch of salt
- 1/2 cup water
- 50 g butter (unsalted)
- 1 cup cream
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease a 6-cup pie or ovenproof dish.
- In a large bowl, cream together the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Gradually add the eggs and continue to beat until the batter is well combined.
- In a separate bowl, sift the flour with the baking powder and salt. Add the dry ingredients alternately with the buttermilk to the batter and mix well.
- Spoon into the prepared dish. Bake for 35 - 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Pour the sauce over the pudding as soon as it comes out of the oven.
- To make the sauce, combine the sugars, salt and water in a saucepan. Stir until dissolved, brushing the sugar crystals from the sides of the pot if needed. Bring to the boil, and continue cooking, without stirring, over medium heat for around 10 minutes until it reaches hard ball stage (122°C on a candy thermometer) or is frothy on the top with large bubbles around the edge. Add the butter and continue to simmer for about 5 minutes, swirling the pan from time to time, until it reaches hard crack stage (154°C) or is very frothy and smells of almost-burnt caramel. Carefully add the cream a little at a time, stirring, until well combined and smooth. Remove from the heat and pour over the hot pudding as soon as it is removed from the oven.
- Serve hot with ice cream or cream.