Spiced Pumpkin and Sang Som Rum Sticky Toffee Pudding with Coconut Toffee Sauce

Sang Som is Thailand's most famous spirit. Made from molasses, aged in charred oak barrels for around five years and carrying notes of caramel and vanilla - technically a rum-type spirit, though most Thais would just call it Sang Som. It's been produced since 1979, it's won gold medals at international competitions, and it is absolutely everywhere in Thailand, from dive bars in Bangkok to beach shacks in the south. It also has a very specific association with the Full Moon Party on Koh Phangan, where the standard serve is a medium bottle emptied into a small bucket with ice and red bull syrup.

I first came across it on that exact beach when I was 18. I'd grown up in a village in the Cotswolds - Middle Barton, not exactly a hotbed of excitement - and the second I finished sixth form I was off. Me and my mate Gavin went to Thailand, Australia, New Zealand and Fiji on about £2000 between us. It got us through Thailand living like kings. By the time we hit Australia we were living in a car. New Zealand I picked fruit, pruned vines and cleaned kitchens to stay afloat. But that first stop in Thailand, the full moon party, the bucket of Sang Som - whether it was actually Sang Som in there or something else entirely is a question I've never fully resolved. Those parties are not known for rigorous quality control. Either way it remains one of the more nostalgic bottles in my life and it screams Thailand to me, which is exactly why it belongs in this pudding.

The base technique here comes from when I was a teenager learning to cook at the King's Arms in Woodstock. My sous chef Dave showed me how to infuse the tea bags properly in the milk before making sticky toffee pudding - a small thing that makes a real difference to the depth of the sponge. My version borrows that same move but uses coconut cream instead of milk, which takes it somewhere else entirely.

This one goes on around the end of autumn at Farang, usually when the clocks go back. Summer is gone, the nice autumn days are turning cold, and people want something to get them through the next four months of British weather. Nothing does the job better than sticky toffee pudding. We serve it with coconut sorbet and it works very well. If you're making it at home, a good vanilla ice cream does the same thing.

The palm sugar in the sauce matters. It gives a more balanced, rounded sweetness than regular brown sugar - less aggressive, richer. We import soft palm sugar from Bangkok but most people aren't going to do that. When buying in the UK, look for one with a high concentration of actual palm sugar - some are cut with other sugars and taste too sweet and flat. Thai Taste and XO are both good brands and widely available.

Spiced Pumpkin and Sang Som Rum Sticky Toffee Pudding

Serves: 8 | Prep: 20 mins | Cook: 1 hour | Difficulty: Medium

Ingredients

For the pudding

• 175g self-raising flour

• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

• 1 tsp ground ginger

• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

• 1 tsp baking powder

• 1 tsp sea salt

• 140g dark soft brown sugar

• 85g softened butter

• 2 large eggs, beaten

• 500ml coconut cream

• 2 tea bags

• 100g medjool dates, de-stoned

• 400g pumpkin puree (homemade is best, tinned works well)

• 1 tbsp Sang Som rum (or any good rum or brandy)

For the coconut toffee sauce

• 175g palm sugar (Thai Taste or XO brand recommended - or light muscovado as a substitute)

• 50g butter, chopped into cubes

• 225ml coconut cream

• 1 tbsp black treacle

• 1 tbsp Sang Som rum (optional but recommended)

• Pinch of sea salt

To serve

• 10g toasted coconut

• Coconut sorbet or good vanilla ice cream

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C fan. Sieve together the flour, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

2. Warm the coconut cream in a pan with the tea bags. Let it simmer for a minute then remove the bags. Add the dates and let them soften and melt into the cream. Blend smooth for a cleaner texture, or leave with some chunks in for a bit of bite.

3. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until combined. Gradually mix in the eggs - use a stand mixer on medium-high if you have one, until pale and slightly fluffy. Stir in the pumpkin puree and Sang Som rum.

4. Fold in half the flour mix, then half the coconut and date mixture. Repeat with the rest of both. The batter should be thick, toffee-coloured and pourable.

5. Pour into a deep, buttered baking tray lined with parchment. Bake on the middle shelf for 50 minutes to 1 hour until risen, firm and a skewer comes out clean.

6. For the sauce, gently heat the palm sugar, butter and coconut cream together in a saucepan, stirring regularly. Add the black treacle and rum. Simmer for 3-5 minutes until it reaches a rich toffee colour. Add more coconut cream if it needs loosening, and a pinch of sea salt to finish.

7. Serve the pudding warm with the sauce poured over and a scattering of toasted coconut. Coconut sorbet or vanilla ice cream alongside.

Chef's notes

The pudding keeps well in the fridge for 3 days and reheats beautifully - warm it in the oven at 150°C covered with foil, or in the microwave in short bursts. Always make the sauce fresh.

Sang Som is available in most good Asian supermarkets in the UK and online. If you can't find it, any dark rum or brandy works. But Sang Som is worth hunting for - partly for the flavour, mostly for the story.

More recipes at faranglondon.co.uk. Sauces and pastes for cooking Thai at home at payst.co.uk.