Slow Cooker Sticky Toffee Pudding

COOK TIME 8 hours on low

Preheat your slow cooker on low for 10 minutes and make sure your pudding bowl fits into your slow cooker when the lid is closed. Grease your bowl with tablespoon of the butter and line with baking paper.

Pop the dates into a heatproof bowl and cover with the boiling water. Leave to soak for 30 minutes.

Put the vanilla extract, 80g of the sugar, the cream, half the treacle and half the butter into a pan. Cook over a medium heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Carefully turn up the heat and cook for 3 more minutes. Whisk the mixture and add a pinch of salt. Pour about a third of the mixture into your lined bowl, leaving the rest to reheat later for your sauce.

Remove the dates from the bowl, reserving the water, and roughly chop. In a mixing bowl, stir together the remaining sugar, treacle and butter with the beaten eggs. Carefully fold in the flour, bicarbonate of soda, ¼ teaspoon of salt, the dates and soaking water. Spoon into the pudding bowl, leaving about a 1cm gap at the top. Cover with a greased layer of baking paper and a layer of tinfoil, then make a central cut to allow the steam to escape and tie with some string.

Place the bowl in your slow cooker. Boil the kettle and pour in the water to fill halfway up the bowl. Close the lid of the slow cooker and cook on low for 8 hours.

Carefully remove the pudding from your slow cooker. You may want to run a knife around the edge of the bowl before turning out onto a serving plate. When you are ready to serve, reheat the remaining sauce to pour over your pudding. Serve with clotted cream, custard or ice cream.