It's been a long time!! i know...

But now I have had a bit of a break from work and I am ready to get back into the swing of things..

I haven't been too lazy about work though, I have been testing some recipes to see if I will put them on our menu for next year... The first one i tested was a sticky toffee pudding cake..

It was ok..not quite the taste that I was looking for.. and I kinda messed up the toffee sauce..I had to transport the cake and the sauce, so I made the sauce last and put it into a glass jam jar with a lid, and I think that since it was still warm it created condensation and caused the toffee sauce to crystalize.. The sauce that was left in the pot was still ok once it was reheated...anyhow here is the recipe, maybe you can try it and see what you think?

For cake:

1/4c butter at room temp.

1 1/2 c flour

1 1/2 c chopped pitted dates(about 6oz.)

1 teaspoon bread soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon seasalt

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 eggs

Sauce:

1 1/4 cups packed brown sugar

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup butter

1 tablespoon brandy

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Whipped cream or vanilla ice cream for garnish.

First grease and flour a bundt pan, bring 1 1/2 cups of water and chopped dates to boil in a pan, remove from heat and stir in bread soda, mixture will be foamy. Set aside to cool

Mix flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Using an electric mixer beat the butter, sugar and vanilla together, mixture will be grainy. Add 1 egg to blend, half of the flour mixture and half of the date mixture. Repeat with remaining egg, flour and date mixture...pour into prepared bundt pan. Bake in a moderate oven for 40-45min. or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool on wire rack. At this point you can keep the cake wrapped at room temp for 1day..

For the sauce:

Bring sugar, cream and butter to a boil in a small heavy saucepan over a medium heat, stirring constantly. Continue to boil, stirring constantly, for 3 min. Remove from heat: stir in brandy and vanilla. Can be made 4 hours ahead. Let stand at room temp. Reheat gently before using.

dates, stewing...

I used vanilla beans

baked cake

cooking the toffee sauce