Sticky Toffee Pudding
- Total Time
- About 1 hour
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
Yield:6 to 8 servings
- 1cup dates, pitted and chopped
- 1cup boiling water
- 3tablespoons butter; cold, unsalted, cubed (plus more for greasing)
- 1teaspoon baking soda
- ¼teaspoon fine sea salt
- ⅓cup plus 1 teaspoon Demerara sugar
- ⅓cup plus 1 teaspoon dark brown sugar
- 2eggs
- ¾cup plus 2 tablespoons flour
- 1teaspoon vanilla extract
- 5tablespoons butter
- 1cup cream
- 6tablespoons dark brown sugar
- ⅛teaspoon fine sea salt
- 3tablespoons butter
- 1¼cup cream, plus more for serving, if you like
- 3tablespoons dark brown sugar
- ⅛teaspoon fine sea salt
Pudding
Sticky Toffee Topping
‘‘extra’’ Sauce
Preparation
- Step 1
Put the dates in a bowl and cover with the 1 cup boiling water to soften, at least 5 minutes. Heat the oven to 350 and grease a deep 9-by-13-inch baking dish.
- Step 2
Combine the 3 tablespoons butter, baking soda, a pinch of salt, Demerara sugar, ⅓ cup plus 1 teaspoon dark brown sugar, eggs, flour and vanilla extract in a food processor and pulse until just combined. Add the dates and ½ cup of the water to the mixture; pulse until nearly smooth (specks of dates should remain visible).
- Step 3
Pour the mixture into the baking dish and bake for about 30 minutes, until just firm to the touch. (When the pudding has finished baking, remove from the oven and heat the broiler. Put the rack about 4 inches from the heat source.)
- Step 4
Meanwhile, make the topping. Melt 5 tablespoons butter in a small saucepan over medium heat, then slowly add 1 cup cream and 6 tablespoons dark brown sugar and ⅛ teaspoon salt, whisking continuously until the mixture bubbles gently and comes together to form a smooth mixture; turn off heat.
- Step 5
In another small saucepan over medium heat, make the extra sauce. Melt 3 tablespoons butter, then slowly add 1 ¼ cups cream and 3 tablespoons dark brown sugar and ⅛ teaspoon salt. Repeat the process above.
- Step 6
Pour the topping (careful not to use the extra sauce) over the cooked pudding and place the whole thing in the broiler until it bubbles and looks sticky, 1 or 2 minutes (watch it closely). To serve, spoon into bowls and cover with the extra sauce. If you like, add a dollop of whipped cream.
Private Notes
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Cooking Notes
Shelby
What is Demarara sugar? Can regular white sugar be used?
Clementina de Patagonia
Rather than use a 9x13 baking dish, I bake this in muffin tins, either in a tin that produces regular-sized muffins if I'm serving this dessert at home or in mini-muffin tins if I'm taking this dessert to someone's house where I know other desserts will be served. (Bake at 375º for about 22 minutes for regular-sized muffins and for about 17 minutes for
mini-muffins). And I serve the "extra" sauce hot. This recipe is always a hit!
Nina
can you make ahead and warm?
Olivia
For everyone whose cake didn't rise, I used a glass 8X8 pyrex to bake the pudding in. I also added an additional 1 teaspoon of baking powder and 1/8 tsp of salt to the batter along and it worked out great. P.S. my mom told me not to post this because " its a cook eat cook world and don't tell anyone your secrets"
Jules
It's basically a very coarse-grained raw sugar. You can substitute turbinado sugar or a light brown sugar.
Neil
The UK recipe calls for self rising flour, as well as baking soda. The adjustment to regular flour is not made in the US version here and the is presumably why some of the notes say the cake is only an inch high. The UK one also uses double cream for the topping, which is very thick and generally unavailable here. That may explain some of the watery sauces noted. Substitutions for both can be found online
marlette
I use the recipe from the Australian Family Circle Dessert cookbook. It doesn't include the sauce and broiling step but I might try that!
Also, I have had equally great results using Evaporated milk in place of the cream. No-one missed the extra calories!
LCRI Cook
Sweet sweet sweet. Yes I know. I read the ingredients. I made it anyway. Following directions, it was served to much acclaim. I did skip the 'extra sauce' as there are only so many ambulances available. Serve generous portions warm, with nothing on top and no apologies. Side of Ice water maybe. This is desert. And easy enough, step by step.
Phil
I am speechless! My wife and her family absolutely adored this masterpiece! We started our Thanksgiving dinner with my aunt’s turkey – it was ok but everyone was starving as she did not prepare enough. You should have seen the faces of the guests when they saw me with this godly dessert. We were all salivating at the Orchestra of olfactory pleasures. We did not go for the extra sauce, as there was no doctor in the room to unblock my great auncle Joe’s arteries. God bless this recipe and America.
Thea Meyer
Sticky Toffee Pudding is best served with custard....
NCB
DELICIOUS. I like to read through comments for fun and edification, so: -added 1 tsp baking powder to ensure a good rise -used 8 x 12 ceramic baking dish (smaller than recipe) -soaked chopped dates in hot tea -added a sprinkling of cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg (I like those seasonings!) -added a TBS or so of dark rum to topping (love that flavor, too!) I made the pudding in the AM, left out on counter, made topping PM, stuck under broiler. No extra sauce (ran out of time/pots). PERFECTION.
Ashley
I've made this recipe three times now and overall this is a delicious dessert that everyone really likes. Having said that, here are a few things of note. First, the actual toffee pudding/cake is only going to be about an inch high. So if you want more standard size cake then use a 9 by 9 or 8 by 8 instead of 9 by 13. The other thing is that the extra sauce is quite liquidy. I put a cornstarch slurry in mine to thicken it up. Very recommended dessert.
Kina
Demerara sugar is like the sugar you find in the "sugar in the raw" packets at Starbucks. It is a partially refined light brown cane sugar coming originally from Guyana, (these days you can find it at your local whole foods, or even some targets). So I wouldn't use white sugar in place of it, but you may be able to substitute it with light brown sugar.
kate
Had this in York and could not wait to try it at home. Embarrassed to say how many times I have made this- that's a lot of cream! Easy and impressive dessert for company. Good leftover slightly warmed. Oh, yeah, do add a dollop of whipped cream.
Faith
Seems like a mis print in the toffee sauce recipe. There should be more brown sugar than cream. I recommend 1 1/2 c brown sugar to 1/2 cup of cream and 1/2 cup of butter.
rosina
Served with vanilla ice cream and whipped cream. Not as dark and moist as over there. Sauce runny but still good. Not sure I did the broiling part right, very bubbly but not all sticky.
Chicago ann
Criminally delicious. Superb and relatively easy to put together. I do wish NYT would adapt all their volume measures to weighted measures but nonetheless this was a crowd pleaser and delectably sweet.
Julie
This was outstanding and easy. The dates add a depth of flavor and the topping is like butterscotch. The batter seamed thin in a 9x12, but baked perfectly. I made no changes and was extremely pleased.
annoying measurements
It never ceases to amaze me that American bakers/cooks would rather use 3 different measuring instruments for one ingredient instead of just denoting in grams.
yas
Delectable. Please use weight for measurements, NYT! Didn’t make the extra sauce and I don’t think it needed it. Added 1tsp baking powder per suggestions. Baked in an 8in Corningware round dish and it rose nicely. Used 1/4cup date water and 1/4 cup hot milk for some extra richness. It did sink a little in the middle but that’s where the topping could conveniently pool for a self-saucing effect on serving.
Gab
I have also used baking powder since the first attempt did not work - cake did not rise. Also i would suggest to beat the butter with the sugar and eggs first and then fold the flour (not in the mixer) with the baking powder and baking soda and salt. A nice addition are walnuts in the mix.
vegan & gf
Made this with Flax egg instead of normal Gf flour ( Tesco own brand) instead of normal Vegan butter & coconut cream Served with Elmea plant single cream. Was amazing!!
Rachel
Delicious. What else is there to say? Shoutout to Clementina for the suggestion of the muffin tin. Our batter filled 9 of 12 muffin cups and cooked at 375 for about 16 min. So moist, so delightful. We just spooned the sauce onto the inverted pudding, and didn’t broil it or bother with the “extra” sauce. Will definitely make again.
Rae
Everyone I shared with this thought it was delicious. I enjoyed it, but I agree with many of the other comments that it came out very short. I would've liked it to be taller and have more capacity to absorb more liquid and get more sticky. I did take some of the suggestions in the comments to increase the leavener and add baking powder. I would probably not make this particular sticky toffee pudding recipe again until I had tried another to see where this one could be improved.
hokiesunshine
I made this last week and loved it. Some modifications: 1. I used a smaller pan. The batter was too thin when I used the recommended size 2. I only had light brown sugar, so I added a wee touch of molasses. 3. I would cut down the sugar in the sauce by a 1/3. It was very sweet. 4. I’ll add Amarula or Amaretto to the sauce for a little change up. (Whisky would work well too.) 4. I might add a pinch more salt.
AllisonT
Am I supposed to wring out the dates well before adding them to the batter? Thank you.
changes
Made 1/20/24 1/2 pan served 8.
Ritu
Came out really good, made 7 6 oz ramekins worth. Did not make the extra sauce, as one batch was plenty
Mikayla
This was an excellent recipe! I did follow the recommendations of other commenters (adding the extra baking powder, baking in a smaller dish, topping with extra cinnamon and nutmeg). I also ended up subbing most of the AP flour for bread flour, and everything still came out perfect! I did not end up making the extra sauce since the initial batch of sauce ended up being plenty. Whole dish of pudding was gone within three days, and I am already being asked to make another batch!
used light brown sugar and for one if the sugars substituted half of the 1/3 cup with blackstrap molasses. also added cardamom
Put enough of the sauce to coat the cake for broiling and use leftover to serve with ice cream or whipping cream
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