Malva pudding with dates and pecan nuts

A respected and well-loved fellow blogger, Nina Timm from www.my-easy-cooking.com, invited me to a cook-along at her house on Tuesday. Myself and 2 other bloggers, Ishay Govender-Ypma from www.foodandthefabulous.com and Jane-Anne Hobbs from www.scrumptious.co.za, were asked to create festive recipes using Safari dried fruit and nuts. Martelize Brink from RSG joined us to record a few snippets while we were cooking.

I created this malva-date-pecan-pudding – a very indulgent and delicious twist on the classic malva pudding, and a MUST for the Easter weekend! Serve with lots of custard and vanilla ice cream.

Ingredients: (serves 6)

• 1 cup finely chopped dried dates
• 5 ml (1 t) baking soda
• 200 ml boiling water
• 20 ml (4 t) butter at room temperature
• 250 ml (1 cup) caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 15 ml (1 T) fine apricot jam
• 125 ml (1/2 cup) milk
• 5 ml (1 t) brown vinegar
• 250 ml (1 cup) flour
• pinch of salt
• 100 g pecan nuts, roughly chopped

For the sauce:

• 250 ml (1 cup) cream
• 180 ml (3/4 cup) sugar
• 125 g butter
• 125 ml (1/2 cup) boiling water
• 5 ml (1 t) vanilla essence

Method:

1. Add chopped dates and baking soda to a glass bowl, then pour boiling water over and leave to soften for 30 minutes.
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar with electric beaters untill light and fluffy. Add eggs one by one and beat untill pale yellow.
3. Add apricot jam and mix well.
4. Add vinegar to milk, then add to the sugar/butter/egg mixture and mix well.
5. Sieve flour and salt together, then add to the wet mixture and mix well.
6. Add dates and half of the chopped pecans, and stir through with a metal spoon. Spoon into a buttered ovenproof dish, then bake in a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees Celsius for 45 minutes.
7. While the pudding is baking, add all the ingredient for the sauce to a small saucepan, and bring to the boil just before the pudding comes from the oven.
8. Remove the sauce from the heat as it comes to the boil (the butter should be melted by then), then carefully pour over the hot pudding. The sauce will seep into the pudding on standing – it takes at least 15 minutes for it to settle. Sprinkle with the other half of the pecan nuts, then serve warm with custard and vanilla ice cream.

TIP: The pudding is really dark in colour, but if you are worried that it will burn, cover the oven dish with foil for the last 15 minutes of the baking time.