Home > Proper pudding recipes > The best sticky toffee pudding
By: Rebecca Woollard
- Published:26 Jan 15
- Updated:18 Mar 24
- Test kitchen approved
This seriously is one of the best sticky toffee pudding recipes you will ever taste. It goes wonderfully with ourtoasted nut and demerara ice cream.
Fancy one right now? (Always!) Give our microwaved sticky toffee pudding a go.
- Easy
- January 2015
Test kitchen approved
- Serves 8
- Hands on time 30 minutes, oven time 50 minutes
This seriously is one of the best sticky toffee pudding recipes you will ever taste. It goes wonderfully with ourtoasted nut and demerara ice cream.
Fancy one right now? (Always!) Give our microwaved sticky toffee pudding a go.
- Freezable
Nutrition: Based on 8 servings
- Calories
- 705kcals
- Fat
- 40.8g (25g saturated)
- Protein
- 6g
- Carbohydrates
- 78.7g (63.2g sugars)
- Fibre
- 2g
- Salt
- 0.9g
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Ingredients
- 160g whole dates, stoned and roughly chopped
- 150ml boiling water
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 90g butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
- 150g light muscovado sugar
- 2 large free-range eggs
- 2 tbsp black treacle
- 175g self-raising flour
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 100ml whole milk (preferably jersey or gold top)
For the toffee sauce
- 225g light muscovado sugar
- Good slug brandy or rum
- 100g unsalted butter, softened
- 275ml double cream
- 1 tbsp black treacle
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Method
- Put the dates in a mixing bowl with the water. Leave for 30 minutes until cool, then mash with a fork to a rough pulp. Stir through the vanilla and set aside. Butter a 1.2 litre ovenproof dish and set aside. Heat the oven to 170°C/fan 150°C/gas 3.
- While the dates are soaking, use an electric mixer or wooden spoon to beat the 90g butter and 150g sugar until light and creamy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well before adding the next. Beat in the black treacle, then mix the flour with the bicarb and gently fold in one third using a metal spoon or balloon whisk. Fold in a third of the milk, then repeat until all the flour and milk are used up. Stir the soaked dates, with their liquid, into the batter – it may curdle, but don’t worry. Spoon into the prepared dish.
- Bake for 50 minutes or until the pudding is risen and firm, and a skewer pushed into the middle comes out clean (cover with foil after 40 minutes if the edges are browning too much). If the skewer comes out with what looks like uncooked mixture on it, it might be a piece of date. Taste it – if you can taste uncooked flour it will need longer.
- Meanwhile, make the toffee sauce. Put the 225g sugar, brandy, 100g butter and half the cream in a large, heavy-based pan and heat gently. When the sugar has dissolved, turn up the heat, stir in the treacle and bubble, stirring, for 2-3 minutes until the mix is a rich toffee colour. Take the pan off the heat and stir in the rest of the cream. Keep warm.
- Leave the pudding to cool for 20 minutes, then skewer it all over and pour over half the sauce. Leave for another 15 minutes, then serve drizzled with the rest of the sauce, with ourtoasted nut and demerara ice cream, if you like.
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- Recipe from January 2015 Issue
Nutrition
Nutrition: per serving
- Calories
- 705kcals
- Fat
- 40.8g (25g saturated)
- Protein
- 6g
- Carbohydrates
- 78.7g (63.2g sugars)
- Fibre
- 2g
- Salt
- 0.9g
delicious. tips
Make the pudding up to 1 day in advance (although it’s at its absolute best on the day it’s made) and keep covered in the fridge. Bring back to room temperature and warm through in an oven heated to 170°C/fan 150°C/gas 3 for 20-25 minutes, then serve with the reheated sauce.
Freeze in its dish, well wrapped in cling film, for up to 3 months. Defrost, then reheat as above. Freeze the sauce in an airtight container, defrost and reheat on the hob.
Buy ingredients online
Recipe By
Rebecca Woollard
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Reviews
Read what others say...
Made this for Easter lunch. Family all loved it. A light and tasty sponge which reheated well. Reduced the sugar in the toffee sauce and served with vanilla ice cream. It was delicious – like the magazine!!
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Just yummy!
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If you’re like me and short of bowls, just leave it to bake in the one you make the mixture in (if it’s ovenproof of course). As you don’t need to remove it from its container to serve, it saves on washing up too. This is my third time making this, mmmmmmmm
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I upped the quanties by a half (hungry grandchildren] and it worked fine but needed an additional 15 minutes baking.
Nice pud – smells grrrreat coming out of the oven!Log in to Reply
I have made this a few times for people. They really like it because there aren’t bits of date to chew through, which is what they dont like from other toffee puddings that they have had. And one person said it was the best she had ever eaten. Light, and tasty. I think the purée dates makes a huge difference.
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I made this for friends recently and it was gorgeous! I’m notoriously bad at desserts but this recipe was easy to follow and the finished product was really tasty. I’ll definitely be making it again!
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