Panettone now makes a regular appearance on British Christmas tables. This light, vanilla–flavoured Italian cake tastes great with a simple cup of coffee, but even better transformed into this delicious Sticky Toffee Pudding. This recipe is a doddle to make and will particularly appeal to people who aren’t fans of the traditional and rich Christmas pud.

Temperatures

Remove the toffee from the heat when it reaches  118°C – 120°C.

Ingredients

Serves 4-6

• 1kg Panettone (or Pandoro)
• 125g unsalted butter
• 125g Demerara sugar
• 284ml double cream
• 25g Californian walnuts, chopped
• 25g dried cranberries, chopped
• 25g dried apricots, chopped
• 25g Californian pistachios, shelled and halved
• Vanilla ice cream

Directions

• For the toffee sauce, gently melt the sugar and butter together in a large pan, add the cream and boil until thick.
• Simmer over a low heat, whisking constantly. Remove once the temperature reaches 118°C – 120°C (the hotter the caramel gets the more brittle it will become — you want to be able to drop the pieces of cake in it).
• The mixture’s consistency should be a little thicker than custard and it should have a lovely toffee colour.

• Unwrap the Panettone and, using a sharp knife, slice off the dark crust from all over the cake and discard.
• Cut the pale inside section that is left into large cubes – about the size of a traditional sticky toffee pudding portion.
• Drop the pieces of cake into the toffee sauce and leave to soak for a few minutes (best done in batches).
• Lift out with a slotted spoon onto a serving plate, sprinkle with walnuts, pistachios, dried apricots and cranberries and serve with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream.
• Or, if you prefer something to counteract the sweetness, use Greek yoghurt or crème fraîche instead.