Another dessert?

Ok, so maybe I lied! I got a bit bored today and have been doing too much procrastinating with uni work, so I decided to get off my ass and cook something. Turns out that my choice was a dessert, again! Not quite as complex as the last one, but just as tasty, and this time I decided that to make it a bit harder I would set myself a time-limit that was somewhat challenging.

After searching through the pressure test recipes on the masterchef website, I finally came to a conclusion that my next challenge would be the sticky date pudding with butterscotch sauce and almond praline. Considering that it takes 40 minutes to cook the puddings, I figured an appropriate time frame would be 1 hour. Enough time to cause some pressure but realistic enough to have some chance of completing the dish.
So off i went, to my kitchen cupboard to get the ingredients only to find there was no cream! Upon return from the supermarket, after all was set and ready to go, I began the challenge. Starting at 3;45pm, first step was to get those puddings into the oven so they could cook and be ready within 40 minutes.

After softening the dates and mixing it in with the pudding batter (butter, sugar, eggs and flour), I stuck the mixture in some moulds and placed them in a water bath in the oven. Whilst that was cooking, it was onto the almond praline and buttersctoch sauce, which by the way nearly boiled over while on the stove.
For those who have ever made caramel (for the praline), you would know how easy it is to burn, as once it turns a caramel brown colour it can take only a few seconds before it becomes too dark and burnt. Luckily, I got it just in time, and with the caramel setting fast I had to quickly pour it onto the almonds on a baking sheet. Once both the praline and sauce were finished, it was just in time to pull the puddings out of the oven, let them cool for a few minutes and plate up.
Overall, it was a pretty easy dish to make. As always the plating up is the most fun, although eating it was quite enjoyable :) I must admit, that butterscotch sauce was very rich but deeeelicious!

Here is the final product for all those wanting to see:And incase you were wondering, yes I cooked it under an hour, and so far the judging panel are very pleased with the outcome. The rest of the judging panel will be arriving after dinner for any of those wanting to join, call me when your outside! ;)