Cape Brandy Pudding

Part of my interest in South Africa has lead me into a study of South African Cuisine. When I bought the South African History book I also picked up The Complete South African Cookbook from amazon.com. There are all kinds of interesting recipes in the book, but one that sparked my interest is Cape Brandy Pudding. It came to South Africa from the Dutch. I have been researching figgy pudding for the holidays and I thought I would try this version first, which contains dates.

Cape Brandy Pudding

8 oz package of dried pitted dates, finely chopped
2 cups flour
2 beaten eggs
1 cup walnuts or pecans, chopped
1 stick of butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup boiling water
1 t baking soda
1 t baking powder
1/2 t salt

Suace:
1 T butter
1 1/4 cups sugar
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup brandy
1 t vanilla
1/4 t salt

1) Divide dates into 2 equal portions and place in separate bowls.
2) Add baking soda to one batch and pour boiling water over. Mix well and leave to cool.
3) Cream the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl and mix in eggs.
4) Fold the flour, baking powder and salt into the creamed butter/sugar/eggs.
5) Add the 2 bowls of dates and nuts. Mix well.
6) Bake in a baking dish in the oven at 350 until done, about 40 minutes. Test with a skewer, but a few crumbs will often adhere to the stick even when the pudding is done.

Sauce:
1) Heat sugar, butter and water until well dissolved. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla, brandy and salt.

To serve, pour the sauce over the pudding as soon as it comes out of the oven. It will soak into the pudding. This is what you are going for. You can serve it warm as is or let it cool and serve with whipped cream. Most sources recommend serving with ice cream.

I don't have a suitable pudding mold so I had to bake mine in a greased mixing bowl.