Place dates in a bowl, sprinkle over with baking soda. Pour boiling water. Stand for 10 minutes, then mash well with a potato masher (or fork) together with the water until it resembles sloppy porridge.
Batter
Place butter and sugar in a bowl. Beat until combined and smooth.
Add eggs, beat until incorporated.
Add flour. Mix until flour is incorporated.
Add mashed dates, mix quickly until dates are well incorporated into the batter.
Baking Individual Puddings:
Pour batter into pudding moulds, only fill 2/3 of the way up.
Bake for 25 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
While still hot, poke about 10 holes on the surface of the pudding. Spoon over 1 tbsp of butterscotch sauce per pudding. Leave to soak for 10 minutes.
Turn pudding molds upside down on a serving plate. Serve warm with remaining warm sauce and ice cream or cream.
Butterscotch Sauce
Place ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat. Once butter is melted, stir, then bring to a simmer.
Simmer for 2 minutes, stirring once, then remove from heat. Serve warm.
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