Sticky Toffee Pudding With Raisins

Our answer

Nigella's Easy Sticky Toffee Pudding (from NIGELLA BITES) is a self-saucing sponge pudding, where liquid ingredients are poured over a sponge batter before it is put in the oven. As the sponge bakes it rises up through the liquid, leaving a thick sauce underneath. This recipe has chopped dates folded into the sponge batter and in this particular case we believe that it is possible to substitute raisins or sultanas (golden raisins) instead of chopped dates, as the dates here are more of a "mix in" than a substantial ingredient in the sponge batter. Use the same quantity as for the chopped dates. However the pudding will not have quite the rich, treacly flavour that the dates impart and as we haven't tried this substitution we are unable to guarantee the results.

It is however worth noting that raisins cannot be used as a substitute for dates in a more traditional version of Sticky Toffee Pudding. In traditional recipes the dates are covered with boiling water and bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) is added. The dates are left to soften and then mashed to a puree before they are mixed into the sponge batter. They are an integral part of the batter mixture and raisins don't have quite the same sticky, binding qualities.