Sticky Toffee Pudding Cake
If you’ve never had sticky toffee pudding cake, what are you waiting for? A super moist date cake is smothered in a buttery, sweet, toffee sauce and drizzled with a touch of cream. Beautiful and delicious!
It’s easy to get confused by the name of this recipe, but contrary to what it sounds like, sticky toffee pudding is actually one of the best cakes around.
This is an oft-requested cake for family birthdays; we all look forward to it!
What is Sticky Toffee Pudding?
In a nutshell, Sticky Toffee Pudding is a British dessert classic.
A super tender cake, notably made with dates, is smothered in a silky toffee sauce, pecans (optional!), and drizzled with just a touch of cream.
You can leave it simple, of course…just that toffee sauce soaking into the perfectly sweet, delicious cake.
But adding a little spoonful of cream makes this already amazing cake absolutely magical.
An Authentic Recipe
My friend, Sarah (from England), passed along this recipe to me. She’s a self-proclaimed Sticky Toffee Pudding expert and is the one who tipped me off that many British admirers of Sticky Toffee Pudding add the cream.
Of course, in the interest of staying authentic, I had to do the same.
Delicious. Oh my goodness, delicious.
I’ll leave it up to you whether to add the pecans. The addition of nuts in desserts is quite polarizing – I’ll just say, use your own free choice, and I promise all will be well.
Baking Options: Pan or Ramekins
In the details of the recipe, you’ll note that the cakes can be baked in individual ramekins for a truly elegant presentation.
However, the cake also easily transitions to an 8X8- or 9X9-inch baking pan.
Cut into squares and drizzled with the same delicious buttery, toffee sauce (and that cream!), it tastes the same whether baked in individual ramekins or in one larger pan.
Let’s Talk about Dates
Soaked dates are used in the cake batter for sticky toffee pudding. That may seem unusual, but the dates add a delicious sweetness and texture to the cake to make it a classic.
I use soft medjool dates for this cake.
Finely chopping the dates and allowing them to soak briefly in the boiling water + baking soda + vanilla is important to the success of this recipe.
Sticky toffee pudding is one of those desserts that is so easy to make (with lots of make-ahead steps!), and it is completely impressive in presentation and taste.
As appropriate as this dessert is for an elegant holiday table, I have to confess, we’ve taken to making it for our Sunday dessert more often than not. I think Brian officially declared it in his top 5 favorite desserts of all time.
How can I argue with that? Especially when it is so simple.
There’s just something about it that is homey and comforting and at the same time over-the-top delicious. It’s a winner.
One Year Ago: Sparkling Cranberry Apple Cider Punch
Two Years Ago: Chocolate Pudding Pretzel Pie
Three Years Ago: Orange Zested Cranberry White Chocolate Bliss Bars {A Slightly Lighter Version}
Sticky Toffee Pudding Cake
Ingredients
Cake:
- 6 ounces (170 g) dates, pitted and finely chopped (about 8-10 medjool dates)
- ¾ cup boiling water
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¾ cup (159 g) granulated sugar
- 6 tablespoons (85 g) butter, softened
- 2 large eggs
- 1 ¼ cup (178 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Sauce:
- ¾ cup (159 g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- ½ cup (113 g) butter
- ½ cup heavy whipping cream
- Pinch of coarse, kosher salt
- ¼ to ½ cup chopped pecans, optional
- Additional heavy whipping cream for drizzling, optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease 6 to 8 ramekins (about 6 ounces each) with butter or cooking spray or lightly grease an 8X8- or 9X9-inch pan.
- For the cake, in a medium bowl, stir together the dates, boiling water, baking soda and vanilla extract (see note for alternate method). Let the mixture sit for 15 minutes.
- In a separate medium bowl, cream together the granulated sugar and butter with an electric mixer (handheld or stand mixer) until well-combined and fluffy, 2-3 minutes.
- Add the eggs and mix.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.
- Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients, and mix until just combined.
- Fold in the date mixture (no need to drain) until combined; don’t overmix.
- Fill the ramekins evenly with the batter, about 2/3 full, or spread the batter evenly in the prepared pan.
- Bake the ramekins for 18-22 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and the top springs back to the touch (if using a square baking pan, bake for 22-25 minutes UPDATE: increase baking time as needed, some have needed upwards of 40 minutes). Don’t overbake or the cake may be dry.
- Let the cakes cool completely in the pan(s) – although the cake can be served slightly warm also.
- For the sauce, combine the sugar, butter, cream, and salt in a saucepan. Stir over low heat until the sugar dissolves and the sauce is smooth and combined, 5-7 minutes.
- If the cake was baked in ramekins, turn out onto individual plates (if baked in a pan, cut the cake into squares). Pour the warm sauce over the individual servings, and sprinkle with pecans, if using; drizzle with a teaspoon or so of heavy cream, also optional but terribly delicious.
Notes
Recommended Products
Recipe Source: adapted a little from a recipe sent to me by Sarah W. (by way of Delia Smith)
Just had sticky Toffee Pudding for the first time today at an English pub near Ottawa. It was incredible! Came home and decided to look up a recipe for it. This sounds like what I tasted today, can’t wait to try it.
Hope you love it! We think this recipe is pretty amazing but I’ve never had an official version in England. Let me know how it compares if you try it!
Step 4??? Eggs and milk??? How much milk?..
Step #4 says: add the eggs and mix. There is not milk in the recipe.
Add the eggs and MIX xx
Delicious!!!
Great recipe, I have looked for this recipe for many years. Something I always enjoyed in English pubs years ago. I made the recipe and it was delicious my whole family just loved it thank you for posting enjoyed it thoroughly
I’m so glad it was a hit!
Haven’t tried this yet but I have a good feeling it’s what I have been looking for, thank you for sharing I will let you know how it turns out. Pam.
Easy and delicious. I will make it again. Thank you for sharing this recipe ❤
I’d love to serve this for Easter but don’t have as many ramekins as I have people coming. Could I bake a batch in the ramekins, let them cool and turn them out and then bake another batch? Or should they be turned and then served immediately?
Yes, I think that would work! Especially if the little cakes are warmed up just slightly prior to eating.
This is EXACTLY the same recipe as one I’ve been making for years with one of exception–it calls for Craisins instead of dates. I love the slight tartness they add. I’m going to try adding the cream on top of the toffee sauce as that’s a new one for me too.
This cake was a hit! My entire family loved it. I didn’t use medjool dates, just ones that I had in my house, and we ended up having to cook it for longer than suggested (which I think is due to cooking it in a 8×8 pan, not ramekins). But overall, just checking when the center was finished cooking was enough to see when it was done. Turned out a lovely brown colour and the caramel sauce was delicious. Will definitely be making this again!
After looking at many recipes for sticky toffee pudding, I ended up using this one with some minor changes. I soaked the dates in Earl Gray tea (just opened the tea bag and added it with the boiling water) and pureed them in the food processor. I baked it in a 9×9 pan, and it took longer than expected to bake but stayed moist. Someone mentioned pouring some of the toffee on top so I poked the cake with a meat fork and smoothed 3/4 cup sauce on top. This was originally thinking there would be leftovers. Ha! It was gone instantaneously and our 1 year old licked her plate literally!
Yummy changes!
We loved it! The perfect ending to our Sunday roast with Yorkshire pudding. In fact we ate the entire cake. Okay, there are 8 of us but leftovers for tomorrow were tempting.
Hoping to try your biscuit cinnamon rolls for breakfast.
I made this using Gordon Ramsey’s recipe from his restaurant in Las Vegas! Try making his Brown Butter ice cream with it! It’s Amazing!
Making this for Christmas Eve dinner! Each year we pick a different country to learn about their traditional foods and customs. This year is England. How do you think this would do baked in a muffin tin?
What a great idea! I think they would work well in a muffin tin.
This is fantastic!!! Thanks for sharing. I made these for a work potluck lunch. I put them in the silicone muffin cups and baked them in a water bath. Just the right size for after a big meal.
Delicious recipe and easy to follow! It was even better the second day.
I followed the recipe exactly. I didn’t use medjool dates but will give them a go next time. I used ramikens. Cooking time in my oven was 24 mins but I think my oven runs a bit cold.
Thanks for the great recipe! I’ll definitely be making these again and again!
I made this pudding in an 8 x 8 inch pan and I had to bake it for about 50 min as at 30 min it was still wet inside. I added a quarter cup of chopped pecans to the mixture. The cake was still moist, light and airy. It was delicious and the darker edges from baking the cake for longer only complimented the toffee flavour.
Do you think this would work and fit into a regular-sized bundt pan?
I haven’t tried that, but you may need to double the recipe for it to fit into a 9- or 10-cup bundt pan.
Do you think raisins would work as well as dates? My son doesn’t care for dates. Thanks for your help!
Honestly, I’m not sure, but I’m guessing it would change the texture/taste of the cake quite a bit.
This cake seriously is delicious! I made it in a 8×11 and it worked great. Cooking notes : At 20 min it was not even close to done in the middle, I cooked it an additional 10 min and it turned out much darker than I expected. It was dark brown around the edges and I feared I had burned it but it was soft and tender. It bounced back but a toothpick was still a bit wet after testing.
My Father was from England and when we would visit his Mum at Christmas she would soak the Dates in Rum or Brandy then add it to the caramel. I did this using your recipe and it was exactly as I remembered
Best served with hokey pokey icecream.
What in the world is hokey pokey ice cream?
My family loved this unique dessert. We will definitely make it again next Christmas.
Thanks, Jen – enjoying seeing all your comment reviews on the recipes!
My cook time took way longer than 22 minutes. The cake was still jiggly at that time. I think we are going on 30 minutes and the center is still gooey.
Watching closely. Hopefully I don’t wreck it!
Did it work out?
YES!!!! It was de-two-licious!!! I’m still eating spoonfuls of sauce. Shhh! Don’t tell anyone.
STOP. This past Sunday was the second Sunday in a row I’ve made this in ramekins. My family loves it so much…and maybe because the kids went to bed earlier they ended up not getting ANY! That’s because I ate it all. Truthfully. I did. Anyhoo, confessions aside, I want to make this for my daughter’s first birthday in a few weeks and I was toying with the idea of baking this in silicon cupcake liners (smaller portions for a larger crowd). Do you think this is doable? And if so, how much do I adjust bake time for?
Hi Marek, I think it’s totally doable. Depending on how full the silicone cupcake liners are, I’d bake them for right around 11-14 minutes.
We made this for Christmas Eve dinner and it was the perfect dessert for a special occasion! We all loved it so much and it just felt like a special treat. Thanks for this awesome recipe. I think we will make a Christmas Eve tradition of it!
I made this recipe today. I used an 8 X 8 inch square aluminum pan (Wilton) and baked 27 minutes. (A dark pan or glass dish would take a shorter time, I believe.) The cake was moist and perfect. And the sauce is divine. This is such an easy and impressive dessert, and tastes wonderful!
We had the sister missionaries over for Christmas Eve dinner and one had lived in Scotland for 10 years. When I told them we were having Sticky Toffee Pudding Cake for dessert, she pretty much cried and said that she had been missing her mom’s that she always made on Christmas Eve and wished she could have it…tada! A Christmas miracle! Thanks, Mel, for playing a key role in that miracle! She loved it (along with everyone else)! Absolutely decadent!
Oh, that is SO awesome!
That is so cool!
I made this for my daughter’s birthday cake on Christmas Eve and everyone was obsessed. It was divine and I can’t wait for an excuse to make it again!
So glad you loved it and happy birthday to your daughter!
Made this for Christmas Day dessert and loved it! Though, I think next time I’ll make a little more of the sauce 🙂 Thanks, Mel!
Glad you loved it, Sheree!
Making this today, so excited!
This recipe has me drooling already, can’t wait to try it! xo Loren // http://www.thinkelysian.com
You saved the very best for last, thank you so much!!
Have yourself some very restful (ha!) and Happy Holidays. You deserve it.
Look forward to seeing what you’ve got planned for 2017.
What if…I served with Lemon Curd from the perfect Lemon Cheesecake recipe?? Which is absolutely awesome, by the way! Love you, Mel!
I just moved back from London and Sticky Toffee was by far the best thing I tasted there. I’m excited to try out this recipe. We always ate it with custard which evens out the sweetness really well 🙂
You are officially my hero! Can’t wait to try this!
I moved to the UK a decade ago and Sticky Toffee Pudding is what I will pick anytime we are out and about. It is my absolutely favourite pudding. And the cream is a must! Heavy cream drizzled over a pudding/cake is incredibly common and with this one it is so great. Because it is so readily available at pubs, in-laws and the grocery store I haven’t yet made it myself. Thanks for the nudge.
I think it’s funny that you said you’ve cut back on posts because I feel like you always are posting recipes! I can barely get out two a week if I’m lucky. I’m with you on quality over quantity. This food blog world is a rat race and I will not let it get the best of me. By the way, you had me drooling over this one.
I have a feeling we would have a lot in common (and to talk about) if we are ever fortunate to meet in real life. Amen to everything you said.
This is my favorite dessert of ALL TIME!!! First tried it in Ireland in a tiny pub in Dingle, surrounded by old men speaking Gaelic…a warm peat fire burning… and the waitress set it down and simply said, “You’re in for a treat” and walked away. It was AMAZING!!! I have since found a recipe (similar to this one) and I make it more often than I probably should. In a pinch the dried, chopped, bagged dates I find by the raisins will work as the softening in the water/soda helps “rehydrate” them some. I “chop” them just a bit more in my food processor, then soak. Much less messy and worth it to save time trying to chop real dates!
Thanks for the tip, Jess! I loved the images your comment conjured up.
This looks absolutely divine! I nee this in my life!
Paige
http://thehappyflammily.com
Sticky Toffee Pudding is probably my favorite dessert! So delicious! I love your idea of baking them in ramekins and wondered what kind of ramekins do you use?
I have kind of a hodgepodge of ramekins but they are similar to these: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000BI8NAK/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1482184926&sr=8-2&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=ramekins
I fell in love with sticky toffee pudding while we were in England last year. As someone who would choose caramel over chocolate, I think it’s divine! Instead of ramekins, do you think using a silicone muffin pan would work well?
Yes, I think a muffin tin stands a good chance of working!
I made these using a metal muffin tin. I baked them for 18 minutes and they were perfect!
How many muffin-size cakes did they make? I’m making some for dessert tomorrow and trying to decide if I need to increase the recipe or not. Thanks for sharing it took you about 18 min!
Would adding pecans to the cake batter work? We have some serious nut lovers here! This looks amazing and will be replacing the previously planned Christmas Eve dessert
I haven’t tried it, but I think that would work just fine!
You have made my dreams come true! I went to England 8 years ago and had Sticky Toffee Pudding there and have never been able to make one that replicated the one I had and fell in love with. Im hoping this is the one! 🙂
Oh my heck, my family LOVES this desert and I can’t wait to try your recipe. We always eat them warm. To ratchet up the deliciousness a notch we poke the top of the cakes with the chopstick before pouring the sauce on so the sauce can really penetrate the cakes. I think your blog has been perfect lately and hope you have a very Merry Christmas!!
Oooh, great idea on extra soaking!
This is also a classic dessert in Australia. They refer to it as Sticky Date Pudding. I LOVE this dessert. Thanks for posting it and all the other amazing, life changing recipes.
Thanks for letting me know that, Tami!
Oh Mel, now I’m confused…
Since my roots are English, I usually serve a traditional English Christmas dinner with Yorkshire pudding, roast beef, mint peas and Sticky Toffee Pudding is one of the couple desserts I usually make. I was going to live reckless and switch it out this year to make your Glazed Cranberry Lemon Cake, but after reading this post I’m second guessing myself. OK, maybe we have 3 desserts this year – not sure if I’m ready to let go of the annual Sticky Toffee pudding, it is SO good. I have been busy baking and our kitchen is busting with the goodies I’ve made from your wonderful site. This past week I’ve made:
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Fudge
Puppy Chow
Killer Crunch Brownies
Perfect Vanilla Bean Caramels
Twixster Cookies (used the above caramels to make, and cookies came out perfect)
S’Mores Hershey Kiss Blossom Cookies
White Chocolate Gingerbread Truffles (L-O-V-E these)
7-layer bar cookies
Triple Chocolate Fudge Peanut Butter Cookies
Chocolate Crinkle Peppermint Cookies
English Muffin Bread
I made your Mom’s chili recipe, my daughter who is not a fan of chili, loved it (so thank you for that recipe!) and the Creamy White Chicken Lasagna soup for meals
I still have several other of your cookie recipes on the agenda to make this week, oh and Christmas came early for me yesterday as I received a package from Amazon (thanks to your recommendation) – I am now the proud owner of TWO #40 cookie scoops. I’m so excited to try them out!
Thanks again for sharing your recipes!
Beth, you are amazing! I seriously wish you were here cooking in MY kitchen! I hope you love those cookie scoops. 🙂
I love toffee anything and I feel very dignified eating British things (I’m looking at you, scones). I think this might be a NYE thing as I just bought everything to make the peppermint bark cheesecake! Can’t wait to try them both (but not at the same time 😉 )!
Haha, that’s so true about feeling so very refined eating things like scones and sticky toffee pudding. Glad I’m not the only one who gets that false sense of pride. 🙂
I think this might be my Christmas sweet!
Years ago, a friend and I were having dinner together – we usually split a dessert. She had to twist my arm to order the sticky toffee pudding. I thought of a bread pudding and was not enthusiastic at all. She says – and she still teases me about it – that my facial expression on the first bite was something on the order of “surprise – WOW and OMG!!” We email each other recipes whenever we see one, but the coup de grace was when she sent me a photo of having sticky toffee pudding in London … while travelling with her family.
Thanks Mel for this recipe – looks perfect! and thanks to my friend Judy for my introduction to sticky toffee pudding!
I totally know what you mean, Liz! I was always a bit put off by the name and sound of Stick Toffee Pudding but once I had it, I was kicking myself for not trying it earlier!
You’ve won my heart FOREVER!!!
I first tried Sticky Toffee Pudding Cake at Texas Land and Cattle Co. That dessert changed my reason for eating there. When our waiter informed me that they were discontinuing this dessert, I offered to purchase their remaining inventory – I couldn’t envision life without it! (…they really do freeze well.)
I’m going to use my mini bundt pans – so excited…!
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
I love the idea of making these cakes in mini bundt pans! I love that you offered to buy out all their sticky toffee pudding cakes! That’s awesome.
So, the mini bundt pans and large muffin pans worked beautifully. I couldn’t help myself and stuck the hand-blender into the soaking dates, it pureed very nicely and produces an amazing texture. I think that this will become my favorite recipe EVER. Doubled recipe made 6 mini bundt cakes, 6 large muffin-sized cakes, and one ramekin-sized cake (which I used as a quality-control specimen 🙂
I bet the mini bundt pans made such beautiful cakes!
No need to apologize for taking it easy! We love and appreciate you. You do what is best for you 😉 Thanks for your love to us! Can’t wait to try this!!!
Thank you, sweet girl.