Puddings

1. Preheat a conventional oven to 180’c or fan forced to 160’c.
2. Boil water, pour over the dates and add the bi-carb. Set this aside while you prep the other ingredients.
3. Grab 15, 65 mm cake rings or similar mould (See note 1). Then you want to grab a square of foil. Enough that you will be able to scrunch. Place your cake ring in the centre of the square, grabbing the foil, scrunch it in. So it encloses the bottom of the cake ring. Continue all the way around. Once finished make sure it has some tension. Spray the mould with some cooking oil and place mould into a deep baking pan.
4. Cream the butter and sugar until pale and creamy. Then beat in the eggs one by one, scraping down the sides as necessary. Add in the date mixture and mix on medium speed. The mixture will look split at this point. That is ok and it will come back together. Next you want to take the mixture off the mixer and fold in the flours by hand. Some chefs will sift the flours, this will help add more air to the pudding batter.
5. Carefully pour the batter into your prepared moulds. Filling to just half way. Now pour some boiling water into the bottom of the baking pan, carefully. You don’t want to accidentally pour into the moulds. Pour until it covers 1/3 of the moulds. Place a sheet of baking paper over the moulds then wrap with foil. Place into the preheated oven. Bake for 30 minutes then check doneness by inserting a skewer into the middle. If not ready cook for additional 10 minutes then check again. Once cooked let cool in the pan before attempting to remove them. Once cooled enough take them out by running a spatula or paring knife around the rim of the mould. Then it should just pop out.

Dulce de Leche (Condensed Milk) 

1. This sauce takes a while to prepare and can be done in advance. You want to take your cans of condensed milk and place them in a pot on their side. Fill with room temperature water.
2. Bring it to a simmer over high heat. Reduce the heat to keep it simmering. Then let simmer for 3 hours. Checking the pot every now and then, ensuring the cans are still submerged under the water.
3. Once done carefully remove from the pot with a pair of tongs. Let them sit! Do not attempt to open them straight away, the process pressurises the can. This can lead to injury. We like to do this a couple of days in advance so when its time to make the sauce they are ready to open and proceed. Don’t be afraid to make extra, this is delicious on top of ice cream and other goodies.

Sauce

1. Open your prepared cans of Dulce de Leche, pour into a pot over a low to medium heat. Once it starts to heat and soften add in you cream. Stirring continuously. Once homogeneous,  add butter cubes and mix until they are incorporated. Season with salt to taste.
2. Now the sauce is ready to pour straight over your delicious puddings. An optional step is to use a skewer and pierce some holes into the tops of your puddings before pouring the sauce on top. This will help the sauce penetrate the pudding.