sticky toffee pudding

Last night was a fun cooking night. Matt and I tried a new tempeh recipe, potato and tempeh patties. They turned out delicious, tasted kind of like pakoras but bigger and creamy. So so tasty, I had leftovers for lunch today and they were just as good. They were spiced with coriander, cumin, cayenne, and tandoori. We had coleslaw on the side.

At work yesterday I stumbled on a recipe for sticky toffee pudding and had to make it for dessert that night! (pudding in the British for dessert, it is a cake) It's from epicurious, here's the recipe, it is really sweet, but very good.

Simmer 1 cup dates in 1 cup water about 5 minutes and then let sit covered.
Beat 1/2 cup butter and 1/4 cup brown sugar until light and fluffy, then beat in 1 egg.
Sift 1 cup flour, 1 tsp baking powder, and 1/8 tsp salt and mix into butter mixture.
Then add dates (and the water they were soaking in) and mix just until well combined.

Bake in a greased and floured 8" round pan for about 30 minutes at 350.

Then, melt 1/2 cup butter, stir in 1 cup brown sugar, 1/3 cup water, and a pinch of salt.
Boil over medium high heat until sauce is reduced to 1 1/4 cups. (how does one know when it is 1 1/4 cups? no idea, I just boiled it until it ran off the back of a spoon slower and smelled all caramel/toffee-like, maybe about 5-8 minutes?)

With "pudding" still in pan poke it all over with a chopstick or a fork, then pour over half of the warm toffee sauce. Let it sit for 15 minutes to soak in, then turn the cake onto a plate and pour the other half of the sauce over the "pudding"
Then dig in!