Sticky toffee pudding is an iconic British dessert, made from dates that are baked into a soft sponge cake, then covered in a river of toffee.
Looking for the best sticky toffee pudding recipe?
Then, you'll love this traditional sticky toffee pudding recipe! This decadent dessert is made with simple ingredients and doused in a rich toffee sauce. It's the perfect addition to your dessert rotation.
Imagine a light and fluffy cake, similar to monkey bread or creole bread pudding, but with a deeper toffee flavor thanks to the addition of dates and a sticky toffee sauce. The warm cake is often served with a scoop of cold vanilla ice cream, creating the perfect contrast in temperature and texture.
What Is Toffee Pudding?
Sticky toffee pudding is a classic British dessert (also known as sticky date pudding in New Zealand and Australia) that's guaranteed to satisfy your sweet tooth. It features a soft, golden cake studded with rich, gooey dates, all bathed in a warm toffee sauce that's simply irresistible.
The history of sticky toffee pudding is shrouded in a bit of mystery, much like the gooey center of the dessert itself! While it's widely enjoyed as a classic British dessert today, its exact beginnings are a topic of friendly debate.
Some stories credit the creation to hotel owners in Yorkshire or Scotland in the early 1900s. Another tale points to Canadian Air Force pilots stationed in Britain during World War II who shared a recipe with a Lancashire hotelier. This recipe eventually made its way to Francis Coulson and Robert Lee, who popularized the dessert in the 1970s at their hotel in Cumbria.
Regardless of its exact origin, sticky toffee pudding has become a beloved dessert enjoyed around the world. Its rise to fame can likely be attributed to the perfect marriage of a comforting cake and a luxuriously rich toffee sauce – a flavor combination that's guaranteed to satisfy any sweet tooth.
What you'll love about this recipe:
What You Need to Make Sticky Toffee Pudding
How to Make Sticky Toffee Pudding
- Preheat the Oven: Begin by preheating your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (175 degrees Celsius). Lightly grease each well of a 6-cup mini bundt pan.
- Combine Dry Ingredients: In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour and baking powder. Set aside.
- Prepare the Dates: In a separate bowl, combine the chopped dates and boiling water. Add the baking soda and stir to combine. Let this mixture sit for a few minutes to allow the dates to soften.
- Cream Butter and Sugar: Using an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the softened butter and sugar until light and fluffy, approximately 3-4 minutes.
- Incorporate Wet Ingredients: Beat in the egg and vanilla extract until well combined.
- Gradually Add Flour: Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mixing on low speed until just incorporated. Avoid overmixing.
- Fold in Dates: Gently fold the softened date mixture into the batter using a rubber spatula until evenly distributed.
- Bake the Puddings: Divide the cake batter evenly among the prepared mini bundt pan wells. Bake for 35 minutes or until the puddings are set and firm on top.
- Cool Slightly: Remove the puddings from the oven and let them cool in the pan for 5 minutes before carefully inverting them onto a wire rack to cool completely.
- Make the Toffee Sauce: While the puddings cool, prepare the toffee sauce. In a small saucepan, combine the butter, heavy cream, and brown sugar. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium-low heat, stirring constantly. Reduce heat and simmer for 8 minutes or until the sauce thickens slightly.
- Serve and Enjoy: To serve, warm the puddings briefly, if desired, and spoon the warm sauce generously over the top.
Expert Recipe Tips
- Don't overmix the batter! Once the dry ingredients are incorporated, stop mixing. Overmixing can lead to a tough and dense pudding. A few lumps are perfectly fine.
- Instead of mini bundt cakes, you can make sticky toffee pudding in a muffin tin.
- For a richer flavor, use dark brown sugar instead of light brown sugar.
- Place a scoop of cold ice cream on top of the cake for the perfect dessert.
How to Store Leftovers & Reheat
Store any leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days. Briefly warm them before serving them with a drizzle of extra toffee sauce.
Spoil yourself with this sticky toffee pudding! It's the perfect marriage of warm, gooey cake and a luscious toffee sauce – pure comfort food magic on a plate. If you try this recipe, please rate the recipe card and leave a comment down below to help out the next reader!
📖 Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 1 teas baking powder
- ¾ cup pitted dates
- 1 ¼ cups boiling water
- 1 teas baking soda
- ¼ cup unsalted butter - softened
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg - lightly beaten
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ½ cup unsalted butter
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 1 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 cup heavy cream - whipped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter each of a 6 mini bunt pa.
- In a bowl, combine the flour and baking powder.
- Chop the dates fine, place in a small bowl and add the boiling water and baking soda; set aside.
- In a bowl of electric mixer beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla; beat until blended. Gradually beat in the flour mixture. Add the date mixture to the batter and fold until blended with a rubber spatula.
- Pour into the prepared baking dish. Bake until pudding is set and firm on top, about 35 minutes. Remove from oven to a wire rack. Cool is pan for 5 minutes before removing from pan to cool more.
- Meanwhile, make the toffee sauce: Combine the butter, heavy cream and brown sugar in a small heavy saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium low heat, stirring often until mixture has thickened, about 8 minutes.
- Serve the pudding’s warm with heaping tablespoons of the toffee sauce over top.
Notes
Nutritional informations provided as a courtesy and is only an approximatation. Values will changes based on ingredients used.
⭐ Tried this recipe? Rate it ⭐
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It does get harder to find time to see everyone...sticky toffee is a great reason to come together.
Sticky toffee pudding is one of my absolute favourites! That last picture with the sauce oozing... oh my. 😀
Yay for new friends! I've never had this dessert. That's gotta change! And these pictures are amazing, girl!! They make me hungry!! Safe travels 🙂
Hubby proposed to me on Valentine's Day. That pretty much covered him for the rest of his life. 🙂 We'll have a nice dinner at home, including Dudette in the celebration and make it a family love fest instead of just a couples' thing. Once she's in bed, we might pull the couch pillows to the floor, put on a Pink Floyd concert, open a bottle of wine and enjoy some good music and good company. Low key stuff like that.
I love sticky toffee pudding. Love it. Yours looks amazing.
I tried Ben and Jerry's Sticky Toffee Pudding ice cream years ago and loved it. Can't wait to try this recipe. Valentines day is usually crazy here, 3 kids, a birthday for my oldest a few days after. So we try to make a nice dinner for everyone at home, and I always give the kids a little something. If we are lucky eveyone will go to bed on time and maybe DH and I will have a few minutes alone!
I've never had sticky toffee pudding but this look absolutely delicious! I love ooey gooey desserts, and your pictures are gorgeous!
This looks lovely! Sticky toffee pudding is a dessert that's been on my list to try for myself but have never gotten around to making it. Hopefully this will inspire me!
I have been wanting to try making sticky toffee pudding since we saw it on the menu at an Irish Pub. This looks absolutely amazing! This just may be the Valentine's dessert we've been looking for. Wow.
Sticky toffee pudding is my one weakness. I can give up chocolate, I can give up coffee... but there's nothing sort of torture that would convince me to give up sticky toffee. Love the idea of using mini-bundts to create a nice little pocket for that lovely caramel sauce. Perfect!
I had a good laugh over the drink comment. It is true though. Time flies and people's live move in different directions. I have friends I see tons and others I don't. It is always changing and evolving. Glad you found people to hang with. Friendship is so important in life. And this dessert is the perfect way to hang with friends and enjoy some cocktails.
I looove sticky toffee pudding! Yours is super pretty, but mmm. I was lucky enough to fin some from Caiman, and I am waiting for the package like a slobbering dog, I swear.
Gorgeous. Bookmarked.
This looks like such a moist cake all drizzled up and melt in mouth - so totally dying here 😀
Wonderful post!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Latest: Fudgy No Bake Fridge Biscuits
The name alone sounds delicious! I love that there's dates in the cake, yum! This is definitely being added to the list of desserts I absolutely have to try. Yum!
This is one dessert I have never ever had. I think for my first go around I should try it in England too.
how darling are those little cakes? I just want to smush them.
I think it looks fabulous and very tasty!
I feel you on the adulthood/friendship thing. We've made some wonderful friends here in Seattle but we're moving this Summer and I'm terrified of having to make new friends! I think I'll just advertise this dessert. People will come flocking- looks dreamy!
Right now I'm wishing we were neighbors. So freakin' beautiful I could cry! *sniff*
Hope you having a safe and wonderful trip!
I've tried once when in Scotland a sticky pudding and oh boy, was it good!
Hooray for new friends! I miss my sand-box playing friends.
I am in love with this recipe. It just looks so stunning and indulging 🙂
Your sticky toffee pudding looks delightful! I've honestly never tried this before - and puddings are generally not my thing - but clearly I've been missing out... I have featured this post in today's Friday Food Fetish roundup. Let me know if you have any objections and thanks for the inspiration
Now why have I never eaten or made this????? It looks so fabulous with that caramel puddled in the middle....love it!!!
I have never had this kind of pudding but I would love to give this a go. I realize that I try new things alot but I still haven't even made a dent in the basics!!! I'm going to need a bigger appetite!
My all time favourite dessert! Looks amazing - love the use of the bunt pans.
I have never had sticky toffee pudding before. But that photo of yours makes me want to eat some RIGHT NOW!!!! Gorgeous clicks. Bookmarked this recipe, will make it very soon 🙂
We never had sticky toffee pudding before either. Your photo and recipe looks so delicious that we have to try it soon!
Cheers:)
J & C
i've never ever had sticky toffee pudding, but everytime i read those words together i ask myself why. i need to make this happen! your pictures are gorgeous, making me salivate!
Holy!!! geez, woman! this looks delicious, i wish i had my pots with me and a kitchen to make this in. I'm really gonna have to start running in order to hold these calories down. Cuz I'm never gonna say no to dessert.
Could this be done in a square/circular pan? I just don't know where I'd be able to buy those small bundt pans, i live kind of in the middle of nowhere. But Ahh, I must make this - It looks absolutely amazing!
Hi Senny, this recipe would do just fine in a regular square or round plate. Actually the first person who made it for me made it in a round cake plate and just spooned portions out for each of us. It really is one of my favorite desserts! Let me know how it turns out for you
Hi there!
These look delicious! I am planning on tweaking this recipe a bit for xmas but need to know what the capicity of your mini budnt pans is. I found a 6 in one mini budnt pan from nordic ware but one of them has a 6 cup capacity (1 cup per pan) and the other a 4.5 cup capacity. Gorgeous photos, by the way!
can you please post the picture of the pan that you used to make the pudding and how many people does this serve? Thank you
Hi Annie, I'll see if I can dig up a pic but in the mean time, this is a similar pan. It made 6 mini cakes if I recall correctly, but it has been a while.