Preheat the oven to 180°C, fan 160°C, gas 4 and butter and flour 6 small pudding moulds. Cream together the butter, brown sugar and treacle until well combined. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well between each addition. Fold through the flour, being careful not to overmix the batter, then fold through the dates, vanilla, stem ginger pieces and syrup. Divide the mixture between the 6 pudding basins and place on a baking tray. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until risen and cooked through. Julie Ashfield, Managing Director of Buying at Aldi UK, said: “ To have our own label spirits once again recognised amongst the best in the world is a testament to our UK buying team, who work hard to ensure our shoppers get the best quality at the lowest prices. It’s timely to now be announcing some new additions to our award-winning line up. Rum has grown massively in popularity over the past few years so we’re excited to offer some new and exciting flavours to meet growing demand – here’s to another rum-tastic year!” Wishing all the Dads out there the most fun and relaxing Father’s Day! You guys so deserve it, for all that you do, and we love ya to pieces!

Step 3 Add remaining ingredients to the soaked fruit and mix well. Spoon into the prepared basin, pressing down to level. Place the pleated foil and parchment square (foil-side up) on top of the basin and smooth down to cover. Using a long piece of string, tie securely under the lip of the basin and loop over again and tie to make a handle. This isn’t the first time Aldi’s Sea Dog Premium Spiced Rum has been given the nod of approval by experts. This is the third year in a row Spirits Business has awarded the Aldi rum with a gold medal. The tasting panel noted its excellence in taste and great-value price point in what it said was ‘was one of the largest rounds in this year’s blind tasting’.

Step 2 Lightly grease a rough 1 litre pudding basin and line the base with a disc of baking parchment. Put a rough 30cm square of foil on top of a square of baking parchment the same size. Fold a 4cm pleat across the centre and set aside. Place the cream, sugar and butter in a saucepan over a medium heat and let the sugar dissolve completely. CAUTION: boiling sugar is extremely hot. Handle very carefully. Use a deep pan to avoid bubbling over.

In a large bowl, beat together the butter, treacle, sugar and eggs, then fold in the flour, spices, bicarbonate of soda and salt, followed by the date purée. Spoon into the prepared dish. Step 3 Mix the flour and salt. Beat the butter, sugars and treacle together until very soft and aerated, then add the seasoned flour and the eggs. Pour in the milk or pineapple juice and mix briefly, then stir in the dates and their soaking liquid. Stir in the crystallised pineapple, if using. As the sauce bubbles up it will turn browner. Now is the time to stir to prevent burning. This is very hot so please avoid the temptation to dip your finger in and have a taste! Last winter, Gustavo experimented with it a lot, determined to re-create that incredible dessert. His final product is actually better than what we ate in Vegas, if you ask me! The cake itself is modified from the New York Times version. (Which, oddly, doesn’t make enough batter for the pan size it calls for.) The topping is my own creation! Resist the temptation to stir the mixture so you avoid the sugar splashing up the sides of the pan (this will result in a grainy sauce). Instead, hold the pan and gently swirl the sauce in a circular motion. Be patient, and once everything has dissolved increase the temperature to medium-high. Avoid stirring until the sauce begins to turn a darker colour, using the swirling motion to move the sauce around the pan.Step 1 Put the dried fruit into a medium non-metallic bowl. Mix in the lemon zest. Pour in the hot tea and rum. Mix, cover and leave to soak overnight at room temperature. I love using Gourmet Garden Ginger for recipes like this (and I’m not being paid to say that!). It’s so much easier than peeling and grating it myself, and whenever I have a knob of the fresh stuff in my fridge it inevitably goes shrivelly and moldy before I have a chance to use it all. That said, fresh ginger would work equally well. Or you could substitute with about 1 1/2 teaspoons of dried, ground ginger. Cassario Rasberry Mojito Rum isa premium raspberry mojito flavour rum with notes of fresh raspberry, citrus and delicious mint. If you follow me on Istagram, then you know that all this week I am sharing manly desserts in honor of Father’s Day this weekend. I thought the butter rum sauce tasted really boozy and almost bitter by itself. At first I thought I might have a recipe fail on my hands. But, along with the cake, it all came together. However, if you’re not always a fan of really boozy desserts, you could always omit or reduce the amount of rum, or try using this salted caramel sauce instead.