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 118-120 °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.
