Recipe: A Miso-Spiked Sticky Date Pudding You’ll Want To Write Home About

Helen Goh would be an excellent next-door neighbour. Just imagine the smell of her homemade focaccia, or lemon and labneh cake wafting over the fence. During her years working for Yotam Ottolenghi, the baker worked from home to develop pastry recipes for his London venues. So were born her beloved custard yo-yos and Anzac biscuits, along with other baked goods that filled Sweet, the cookbook she co-authored with Ottolenghi.

Before that, Malaysian-born, Melbourne-raised Goh ran a cafe in southeast Melbourne and helmed the pastry kitchen at Donovans for seven years. But she also holds a doctorate in psychology – an unexpected pairing that shaped her approach to her long-awaited first solo cookbook, Baking and the Meaning of Life.

In it, Goh tackles one of Australia’s most-loved desserts with a plant-based twist. “Sticky date pudding... is a crowd-pleaser and perennial favourite, and for good reason,” she writes. “The combination of moist date sponge and luscious butterscotch sauce is deeply appealing. Recipes proliferate, and I didn’t think we needed another one … unless it was a completely plant-based, sensational version accompanied by an easy and delicious vegan ice-cream.”

Goh elevates the classic with lightly caramelised apples macerated in cider vinegar for fresh, fruity pops, while salty miso in the butterscotch sauce adds complexity. She recommends using medjool dates for their deep, caramel-like flavour, though any variety is acceptable. For the plant-based vanilla ice-cream, Goh suggests a coconut-based condensed milk, specifically Biona. You’ll need to prepare the ice-cream at least eight hours ahead.

For more free recipes – from weeknight winners to weekend projects – sign up to our Cooking newsletter

Sticky date pudding with miso butterscotch by Helen Goh

Serves 6–8
Preparation time: 40 minutes, plus 8 hours freezing time for ice-cream
Cooking time: 1 hour

Ingredients

Vegan vanilla ice-cream
250ml plant-based whippable cream, cold
150g plant-based condensed milk
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
½ tsp flaky sea salt

Apples
3 Pink Lady apples
35g soft light or dark brown sugar
45ml apple cider vinegar
Pinch of fine sea salt
20g vegan butter

Sponge pudding
100g vegan butter, at room temperature, plus 10g extra for greasing
200g pitted dates, roughly chopped
350ml water
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
130g soft light or dark brown sugar
200g plain flour
1¾ tsp baking powder

Miso caramel sauce
500ml plant-based whippable cream
85g soft light or dark brown sugar
50g shiro (white) miso
1½ tbsp date molasses

Method

Prepare the ice-cream at least 8 hours or a day ahead. Place all the ingredients in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Whip on medium–high speed to firm peaks. Pour into a 20 × 10 cm loaf tin, cover the top with baking paper and freeze for 8 hours or overnight.

To prepare the apples, peel, core and cut them into 1½cm cubes. Combine the brown sugar, vinegar and salt in a medium bowl and stir until the sugar dissolves. Add the apples, toss to coat and set aside to macerate for 10 minutes. Once macerated, heat the butter in a medium frying pan over medium–high heat. Cook the apples, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes, until nearly all the liquid has evaporated and the apples are lightly caramelised. Set aside for now.

To make the sponge pudding, preheat the oven to 165˚C fan-forced. Grease the bottom and sides of an ovenproof dish (approximately 28cm) with the extra butter.

Combine the dates and water in a medium saucepan and bring to a simmer, then cook for 3–4 minutes, until the dates are soft. Remove from the heat and stir in the bicarbonate of soda, then set aside to cool slightly.

Meanwhile, in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and brown sugar together for 2–3 minutes, until light and fluffy. Beat in the date mixture until combined, then sift the flour and baking powder into the bowl. Fold them in with a flexible spatula until just combined, then fold in the apples. Pour into the prepared dish and bake for about 35 minutes, until the pudding is just firm to the touch and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

While the pudding is cooking, make the miso caramel sauce by putting all the ingredients in a medium saucepan and placing it over medium heat. Whisk occasionally until combined, then let it simmer until the colour deepens slightly – around 10–15 minutes depending on the size of your saucepan. Remove the pan from the heat and set it aside.

When the sponge comes out of the oven, prick it all over with a cake skewer, then pour half the miso caramel sauce over the top. Allow the sauce to soak into the pudding for 10 minutes.

Remove the ice-cream from the freezer 5 minutes before serving to allow it to soften slightly. Serve the pudding warm with ice-cream and drizzle the remaining miso caramel on top.

Images and text from Baking and the Meaning of Life by Helen Goh, photography by Laura Edwards. Murdoch Books RRP $55.00.