Sticky Toffee Pudding

I would like to begin by apologising unreservedly for the spring-like optimism of my blog yesterday.  I've woken to a very cold and rainy Wiltshire today so I'm going to do a culinary back-pedal....to the ultimate cold-weather comfort pudding.
This is a recipe that was given to my mum 25 years ago by an old college friend of hers, when she made it for us I remember thinking it was the most delicious food I'd ever tasted.  Since then the Sticky Toffee Pudding has become the stalwart of every British gastro-pub's dessert menu, for good reason!

Ingredients

75g Soft Butter

175g Light Brown Muscovado Sugar

1 Large Egg

225g Plain Flour

1 tspn Vanilla Extract

1 tspn Baking Powder

175g Dates, finely chopped

1 tspn Bicarbonate of Soda

250ml Boiling Water

For the toffee sauce

150g Light Brown Muscovado Sugar

100g Butter

4 tbsp Double Cream

• Preheat the oven to 175C (fan) and butter a 20cm round tin (springform if you have one). 
• Cream the butter and sugar together in a large bowl then add the egg and half the flour.  Still whisking, add the vanilla extract and the baking powder.
• In a small bowl put the bicarbonate of soda in with the chopped dates and pour over the boiling water.  Mix it thoroughly then carefully pour this into the pudding mixture while whisking slowly, then add the rest of the flour and continue to whisk until combined.
• Pour the mixture into the buttered tin and put it in the preheated oven to bake for 40 minutes.  By then it will be golden brown and risen and a skewer should come out clean when inserted into the middle of the pudding, if not give it another 5 minutes.  Keep the pudding in its tin and preheat your grill.
• To make the sauce, put all the ingredients into a small pan and put on a low heat.  Stir until all the butter is melted and the ingredients are incorporated then bring to the boil and simmer for 3 minutes.
• Pour half of the sauce over the pudding in the tin and put it under the hot grill for 30 seconds to a minute until it's bubbling (be very careful, it can burn quickly).  Remove from the grill and leave it to cool for 10-15 minutes.
• Carefully remove from the tin (this is when the spring-form tin comes into its own) onto a plate.  Cut into slices and serve with extra toffee sauce and softly whipped cream (or ice cream....or custard....the choice is yours).