Sticky toffee pudding
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Originally called "icky sticky toffee sponge", sticky toffee pudding is a British dessert composed of a moist sponge cake made with fine chopped dates and then covered with a toffee sauce.
The dessert's origins are considered a "mystery" according the gastronomic journal, Saveur; however the dominant story is that Francis Coulson developed and served this dessert at his Sharrow Bay Country House Hotel in the Lake District in 1960. It has been stated by Coulson's former protege and chef, Juan Martin, that Coulson hinted that the original concept for the dessert was derived from a farm wife in Lancashire.
However it was also found that the Landlady of The Gait Inn, Millington invented it in 1907 and was then sold in the pub much to everyone's delight. In any case, Coulson introduced and refined the dessert to the general public making his recipe completely accessible to all those who asked.
A final story regarding the origins of the dessert involves The Udny Arms Hotel in Newburgh, Aberdeenshire. The hotel has claimed that it invented the pudding for years, and it is true that, if you ask almost anyone from the surrounding area, they will cite the hotel as the birthplace of the dish.
Sticky Toffee Pudding was the winning ice cream flavor in the 2005 Häagen-Dazs contest, submitted by Judiaann Woo. Sticky Toffee Pudding ice cream is slated to be produced from July 2006 to January 2007.