We have been obsessed with Sticky Toffee Pudding ever since we first tried it at Gordon Ramsay Steak in Las Vegas! So when our friend and fellow chef contributor, Vanessa (who is from England), asked us which recipes we would like her to help with for the blog, we knew exactly which one we wanted! This Sticky Toffee Pudding with it's tasty date sponge cake and irresistible toffee sauce will be your next favorite dessert!

Why is it called "pudding?"

If you haven't ever heard of this dessert then you may be wondering what it is, especially if you aren't from or familiar with desserts originating in England. This bears no resemblance to "pudding" as it is known in North America. We don't have to get too detailed here, but generally, a British "pudding" is the term used to refer to a sweet or savory dish, that is either steamed or boiled. Sticky Toffee Pudding was originally steamed, but now they are most often baked. And this Sticky Toffee Pudding is simply an amazing, decadent dessert.

The base of this dessert is a rich dark and dense sponge cake with finely chopped or, in this case, pureed dates. Also, the molasses and brown sugar contributes to its rich and deep flavor profile.

The cake is good on its own, but the sweet toffee sauce makes this dessert extraordinary.

DO NOT SKIP THE SAUCE!

How to serve Sticky Toffee Pudding

Traditionally, Sticky Toffee Pudding is served warm with the sauce drizzled over the top, along with some vanilla ice cream or other custard. But they are often better after a day or so of soaking in the toffee sauce for extra sticky puddings.

If you don't want to eat your puddings right away, you can drizzle half of the toffee sauce into an oven safe dish and place the cakes on it. Then drizzle the rest of the sauce over the cakes and cover the dish with foil. As the cakes cool, the toffee sauce will soak into them and become sticky, hence the name. Store the dish in the fridge or freeze it, and when you are ready to enjoy them, you can place the whole covered dish in the oven to reheat before serving (see instructions on the recipe card below).

Pro tip: Always keep additional sauce around to serve with the cake to make it extra decadent!

Enjoy!

We hope you enjoy this recipe for Sticky Toffee Pudding! If you give it a try, leave us a comment below or tag us on Instagram @cooking_with_wine!

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Sticky Toffee Pudding

Course: DessertCuisine: EnglishDifficulty: Easy

Servings

servings

Prep time

minutes

Cooking time

minutes

Total time

minutes

Makes 6 mini bundt cakes (4 in diameter) or 1 dozen (12) cupcake sized cakes.

Ingredients

For the pudding
2 cups 2 (225g) whole medjool dates
6 fl oz 6 (175ml) boiling water
1 teaspoon 1 vanilla extract
1 cup 1 (175g) all purpose flour
1.5 teaspoon 1.5 baking powder
¼ teaspoon ¼ salt
1 teaspoon 1 baking soda
2 2 whole eggs
⅔ cup ⅔ (85g) salted butter (softened, plus extra for greasing)
¾ cups ¾ (140g) Demerara sugar (alternatively you can use sugar in the raw or light brown sugar)
2 tablespoon 2 Molasses
3 ½ 3 ½ fl oz (100ml) whole milk
For Sauce
1 cup 1 (175g) light brown sugar
¼ cup ¼ (50g) salted butter (cut into pieces)
7 oz 7 (225ml) Heavy Whipping cream
1 tablespoon 1 Molasses

Directions

Remove pits and finely chop the dates. Put them into a bowl, then pour the boiling water over them and let them soak for about 30 mins until cool. While the dates are soaking, follow the steps below to make the batter for the pudding base. After 30 minutes, stir in 1 teaspoon vanilla extract into the date/water mixture and blend it into a puree using an immersion blender, regular blender, or food processor (alternatively, mash with a fork).
Preheat oven to 350° F (180°C). Grease 6 mini bundt pans or a 12-ct cupcake pan (we use Bakers Joy or butter and dust with flour). Place pans on a baking sheet in case of overflow during baking.
Mix flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda together and set aside. Break and beat the eggs in a separate bowl and set aside.
Beat butter and sugar together in a large bowl for a few minutes until slightly creamy. Add the eggs a little at a time, beating well between additions.
Beat in molasses then gently fold in one-third of the flour mixture. Next, add half of the milk (1 ¾ oz). Be careful not to over mix here. Repeat until all the flour mixture and all milk is used.
Stir the date puree into the pudding batter. The mix may look a little curdled at this point which is fine.
Spoon it evenly between the tins (¾ full) and bake for 20-25 mins, until raised and firm. Test for doneness by sticking a toothpick or wooden skewer into the center of the puddings. If they are done, the toothpick should come out dry and clean.
Make the Toffee Sauce
While the puddings bake, add the light brown sugar and butter pieces for the sauce in a medium saucepan with half of the cream. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the sugar has completely dissolved.
Stir in the molasses, turn up the heat slightly and let the mixture bubble away for 2-3 mins until it’s a rich toffee color. Stir occasionally to make sure it doesn’t burn.
Take the sauce pan off the heat and stir in the rest of the cream.
Remove the puddings from the oven, but leave them in the tins for a few mins, then loosen them well from the sides with a small palette knife before turning them out upside down onto a cooling rack.
You can serve them now with the sauce drizzled over, but they’ll be even stickier if left a day or two coated in the sauce. To do this, pour about half the sauce into one or two ovenproof serving dishes. Place the puddings on the sauce, then pour the rest of the sauce over them. Cover with a loose tent of foil so that it doesn't stick to the tops of the puddings. When ready to serve, heat oven to 350°F. Warm the puddings through, still covered, for 10-15 mins or until the sauce is bubbling.

Notes

Tip - FREEZING: If you don’t want to eat the puddings all at once, freeze a few in an ovenproof dish with some of the sauce. Thaw for a couple hours and reheat as in step 5 under "Make the Toffee Sauce."