Sticky Toffee Pudding

The first time I went to visit my best friend in London, she insisted we go to a traditional Sunday roast. While the roast beef was exceptional, the real standout to me was the traditional sticky toffee pudding served at the end of the meal. It was decadent without being cloyingly sweet, and felt somehow celebratory and comforting all at the same time.

Now, this isn’t pudding in the American sense of the word. It’s a classic English pudding of a moist date sponge cake with a tender crumb that gets draped in a generous layer of toffee sauce and served with a side of vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, or custard. After trying and testing dozens of sticky toffee pudding recipes over the years, I’ve landed on this one being my absolute favorite.

1. Make a date purée. Soak dried dates in hot water, then run through a food processor to make a date purée.
2. Mix the wet ingredients. Cream butter and brown sugar together, then beat in the date purée, eggs, and vanilla.
3. Mix in the dry ingredients. Beat the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients: flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. Many British recipes call for black treacle, but because it’s not readily available in the States, I’ve opted to spice the sponge with this blend of spices instead to give it a rich flavor.
4. Bake the cake. Often at restaurants, sticky toffee pudding will be served in individual ramekins, but for ease at home this recipe is baked in a 9×9-inch baking dish instead. Bake until the cake is set, 30 to 35 minutes.
5. Make the toffee sauce. Heat melted butter, dark brown sugar, heavy cream, vanilla, and salt together until warm, smooth and glossy.
6. Add the sauce and bake. Poke holes over the hot cake and pour some of the toffee sauce into the holes. Return to the oven and bake until the sauce is bubbly.
7. Serve with more sauce. Serve the cake warm with the remaining toffee sauce and vanilla ice cream.

• Use room-temperature ingredients. Sticky toffee pudding is all about the leavening agents here. Make sure to use room-temperature eggs in order to ensure a tall, tender sponge. If you don’t have time to let your eggs come to temperature, you can slip them into a bowl of warm water for five to 10 minutes and they’ll be ready to use. 
• Keep an eye on time. This recipe bakes quickly! After just about 30 minutes the sponge will be set and ready for a generous blanket of toffee sauce. It gets popped in the oven for five more minutes just to let the sauce properly soak into the sponge. 
• Plan ahead. Toffee sauce can easily be made ahead of time (up to one week!). The batter can be prepared and set out at room temperature for a few hours so that it can be baked when you’re nearing time for dessert. Sticky toffee pudding is best served warm, so this really helps with timing.

While the exact origins are a bit murky, sticky toffee pudding is a decidedly British dish. Multiple people and restaurants throughout the 20th century across the country claimed to have created the popular dessert, but most have been disputed. While sticky toffee pudding has a reputation for being an old-timey dessert, it wasn’t until the 1970s that it really became popularized. Fun fact: In New Zealand and Australia the dish is called sticky date pudding.  

Because no one knows exactly where sticky toffee pudding was created, it’s unclear how the addition of dates was added, but it’s certain you can’t make the recipe without them.  While you can’t distinguish the flavor of dates once it’s baked, they add a rich, almost caramel-like flavor to the sponge. Dates also keep the sponge moist, which is crucial to absorbing the toffee sauce. 

If you love toffee and sticky toffee desserts, give these recipes a try:

• Sticky Toffee Pudding Sundaes
• Graham Cracker Toffee
• Salted Toffee and Brown Butter Blondies
• Layered Chocolate Toffee Bars
• Sticky Date and Halva Puddings with Tahini Caramel