Description
An authentic British dessert featuring a moist sponge cake soaked in rich, buttery toffee sauce. This easy recipe delivers a perfect balance of sticky sweetness and tender crumb, ideal for cozy family dinners or special occasions.
Ingredients
Scale
- 200g (7 oz) dates, pitted and chopped
- 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
- 1 cup (240 ml) boiling water
- 100g (7 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
- 150g (3/4 cup) light brown sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 175g (1 1/3 cups) self-raising flour (or 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour plus 2 teaspoons baking powder)
- For the toffee sauce:
- 200g (1 cup) dark brown sugar, softly packed
- 100g (7 tablespoons) unsalted butter
- 1 cup (250 ml) heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Pinch of salt
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C). Grease an 8×8-inch (20cm x 20cm) baking dish lightly with butter or non-stick spray.
- Place the chopped dates and bicarbonate of soda in a heatproof bowl. Pour over boiling water and stir gently. Let sit for 15 minutes until dates are soft and mixture thickens slightly.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream together softened butter and light brown sugar until pale and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes.
- Beat in the eggs one at a time, adding vanilla extract with the second egg.
- Sift the self-raising flour (or all-purpose flour plus baking powder) into a separate bowl.
- Gradually fold the soaked dates with their liquid into the creamed butter mixture, then fold in the sifted flour until just combined. Avoid overmixing.
- Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish and smooth the top with a spatula.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs.
- While baking, prepare the toffee sauce: In a saucepan over medium heat, combine dark brown sugar, butter, and heavy cream. Stir frequently until sugar dissolves and mixture simmers gently. Cook for 3-5 minutes until slightly thickened but pourable.
- Stir in vanilla extract and a pinch of salt into the sauce.
- Once pudding is out of the oven, poke holes all over the surface with a skewer or fork.
- Pour about half the warm toffee sauce over the pudding, letting it soak in. Serve the remainder on the side.
- Serve warm, ideally with custard, cream, or vanilla ice cream.
Notes
If toffee sauce is too thick, add a splash more cream to loosen. Tent pudding with foil if edges brown too quickly. For dairy-free version, substitute butter with coconut oil and heavy cream with canned coconut milk. For gluten-free, use gluten-free self-raising flour or almond flour with baking powder. Avoid overmixing batter to keep pudding tender.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Cuisine: British
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/8 of the pudding
- Calories: 375
- Sugar: 40
- Sodium: 150
- Fat: 18
- Saturated Fat: 11
- Carbohydrates: 55
- Fiber: 3
- Protein: 3
Keywords: sticky toffee pudding, British dessert, toffee sauce, moist sponge cake, easy dessert, traditional pudding