Sticky Toffee “Pudding”

Jenn Giblin, pastry chef of Blue Smoke, came up with this stellar version of this popular dessert. She uses stout beer, giving it the most compelling flavor of any I have tasted. The cake, which in England is referred to as a pudding, dissolves in your mouth.

The toffee sauce is the ideal accompaniment; it absorbs deliciously about an eighth inch into the top of the cake. An additional and unusual accompaniment, served by pastry chef Letty Flatt, is vanilla ice cream flavored with r