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Sticky Toffee Pudding
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Nigella's Sticky Toffee Pudding

A quintessential British dessert, sticky toffee pudding is made from date-infused sponge cake covered with a thick layer of toffee glaze.

Ingredients

For the sponge cake

  • 200 g soft dried pitted dates roughly chopped
  • 200 ml boiled water
  • 1 teabag optional
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 75 g unsalted butter softened, plus more for greasing
  • 2 tbsp black treacle
  • 50 g dark brown sugar
  • 2 large eggs at room temperature
  • 150 g plain flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder

For the toffee sauce

  • 150 g unsalted butter softened
  • 300 g dark brown sugar
  • 1 tbsp black treacle
  • 200 ml double cream, plus more to serve

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/Gas 4 and lightly grease a 9x9 dish.
  • Put the chopped dates, boiling water, tea bag, and baking soda into a bowl, stir and then leave for 10 minutes.
  • Cream the butter and black treacle together in a stand mixer until well mixed, scraping down the sides as required.
  • Add the brown sugar and mix until the mixture is free of lumps.
  • Beat in the egg one at a time, scraping down the side until well mixed.
  • Add the flour and baking powder and gently mix until the batter is thick and smooth.
  • Using a fork, discard the teabag and mashed the dates before adding (dates and liquid) into the batter. Mix together gently.
  • Pour batter into a the prepared 9x9 baking dish and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick (insert in the middle of the cake) comes out clean. Once out of the oven, prick the sponge cake all over with a toothpick.
  • To make the toffee sauce, melt the butter, brown sugar and black treacle in a heavy stainless steel saucepan over low heat, stirring gently until the sugar is melted.
  • Add the double cream and turn up the heat, stirring constantly. Once the toffee sauce is bubbling, take it off the heat.
  • Pour about half the toffee sauce evenly over the sponge cake and let it stand for 30 minutes.
  • Keep the remaining toffee sauce warm in the sauce pan.

Notes

This recipe is inspired by Nigella Lawson except I added a teabag to give the sponge cake an extra depth.