One of our favourite winter desserts has to be the humble yet gloriously decadent sticky toffee pudding, especially when consumed one big spoonful after another while cosied up on the sofa in front of the telly.

Sweet and dark and rich, with its soft, warm sponge and smooth toffee sauce, there are few treats quite as comforting.

Our recipe takes this homely dessert to new levels of scrumptiousness by adding a good splash of gin and a zesty hit of orange to its mix of muscovado and caster sugar, treacle, self-raising flour, some choice spices and that essential addition of dates - which we soak in coffee!

Whether you serve it with cream, ice cream or custard, there’s no better way to end a Sunday dinner.

Orange & Gin Sticky Toffee Pudding

Ingredients

For the cake:
400g self-raising flour
200g unsalted butter
100g caster sugar
100g muscovado sugar
4 eggs
400g dates, finely chopped
250ml freshly brewed coffee (still hot)
Zest of 1 orange
½ tsp grated nutmeg
½ tsp cinnamon powder

For the sauce:
150g unsalted butter
300g golden caster sugar
1tbsp black treacle
200ml double cream
100ml gin (Ludlow Spiced Gin No. 3 would be perfect for this recipe)

Method

1) Preheat your oven to 180C.

2) Add the coffee to the chopped dates. Leave them to soak until cool.

3) Using an electric whisk, cream together the sugars, butter, orange zest and spices until fluffy.

4) Beat the eggs together. Whisk half the eggs into the mixture. Repeat with the remaining eggs.

5) Add the dates and coffee to the butter mixture and mix until incorporated.

6) Sift in the flour and fold until combined, being careful not to over-work the cake batter.

7) Grease a cake tin with butter. Line the base with parchment. Pour in the batter and bake for 40 minutes.

8) For the sauce, add the sugar, butter and syrup to a pan on medium heat. Melt the butter and sugar.

9) Add the gin to the cream and heat up both together in a pan or a microwave.

10) Add the warm cream and gin to the caramel and stir together until bubbling. Once the sauce is smooth and all elements are fully incorporated, remove from the heat.

11) When cooked, remove the cake from the oven and turn out onto a plate. Use a skewer to poke holes all over the top. Brush or spoon the toffee sauce over the top.

12) Serve with extra toffee sauce to pour over and your choice of cream, ice cream or custard. Enjoy!