For the pudding:

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C and grease and line a 25 cm loose-bottomed cake tin very well. (If you don’t want to turn out the pudding – you can bake it in any ovenproof pie dish.)
2. Place the dates in a bowl, add the bicarbonate of soda and pour over the boiling water. Mix well and let it stand until the dates are softened and the mixture has cooled down completely.
3. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt and keep aside.
4. Cream the butter, castor sugar and vanilla essence together and add the eggs one at a time. Beat well after every addition until light and fluffy.
5. Add the cold date mixture and the grated apple to the creamed butter and sugar, mix well. Add the sifted flour and yoghurt and mix lightly to make the batter.
6. Spoon the batter into the prepared cake tin and bake for about 30 minutes. If the pudding becomes too dark – turn the heat down to 150°C after about 15 minutes. Insert a skewer to make sure it is cooked. Prepare the topping while the pudding is in the oven.

For the sticky tofee topping:

1. Combine the butter, brown sugar and cream in a saucepan on medium heat, stir to dissolve the sugar and boil for 2 minutes.
2. Once the pudding is baked, remove from the oven and spoon half of the topping over the surface.
3. Place back into the oven and bake for another ±10 minutes OR until the topping is bubbly and golden brown.
4. Cool for about 15 minutes and remove from the cake tin, place on a pretty plate and serve with crème Fraiche or ice-cream and the rest of the sticky toffee sauce.