Self Saucing Butterscotch Pudding magic – one batter transforms into a warm butterscotch pudding cake AND butterscotch sauce! The cake is fudgy and moist, and the sauce is rich and indulgent, just like a homemade caramel sauce.
This recipe is the butterscotch version of everybody’s favourite Chocolate Self Saucing Pudding. Just as quick, just as easy, just as loved!
Self Saucing Butterscotch Pudding
There’s something childishly satisfying about self saucing puddings. I love the magic of it – one batter making a warm pudding plus a sauce.
And I love the cosiness of puddings. Put a delicately crafted chocolate masterpiece next to a “rustic” bowl of apple crumble topped with a melted mess of ice cream, and I’d choose the crumble any day and twice on Sunday.
So – 6 tier cakes you may never find on here (2 tier is my limit, it seems).
Rustic puddings and cosy crumbles? You will find lots of them here. Aforementioned Apple Crumble has much company, including Strawberry Crumble, Caramel Baked Apples, Sticky Date Pudding, Bread and Butter Pudding and of course, everybody’s favourite Chocolate Self Saucing Pudding.
And this Butterscotch Pudding is the latest to join the gang!
How to make Butterscotch Pudding
I promised you quick and easy, and I did not exaggerate.
Essentially, what you do is make one simple batter, then sprinkle the top with a sugar-cornflour mixture and cover with hot water. Then as it bakes, the sugar-cornflour mixture sinks to the bottom (I like to imagine all sorts of wonderful things happen as it passes through the pudding sponge) and it bubbles away and thickens under the pudding as it rises into a fluffy, moist cake.
It’s like…. magic!!
I love how it looks so innocent with it comes out of the oven… no hint of all that gorgeous butterscotch sauce underneath!!
What goes in Butterscotch Pudding
And here’s what you need to make it. Very few ingredients!
Just a note on a few of the items:
DARK brown sugar – using dark rather than normal brown sugar intensifies the butterscotch flavour of the pudding and the sauce. So use it if you can – but it’s still well worth making even if you only have normal brown sugar!
Golden syrup – an Aussie/UK syrup used in baking, such as Anzac Biscuits. It has a caramel type flavour which makes it ideal to use in the pudding to give it a butterscotch flavour without making a caramel the traditional way with butter and sugar. It’s not widely available outside of Australia/NZ/UK though here it is on Amazon.com ($3.63 for a can).
Best substitute golden syrup
Dark corn syrup (this is ideal), honey or maple syrup. Any of these will be fine because most of the butterscotch flavour in this overall dish comes from the sauce!
PLENTY of Butterscotch Sauce!
This recipe makes a generous amount of Butterscotch Sauce because I can’t imagine anything more disappointing than cutting through hot pudding only to find little or no sauce underneath. 😩
So this recipe makes almost 50% more sauce than usual Butterscotch Pudding recipes which provides some margin for error, and differences in oven temperature, depth of baking dishes…. and all the other little things that can affect the outcome of a recipe.
The other nice thing about this pudding is that it’s not too sweet. Butterscotch sauce is typically made with just butter and sugar (like this caramel sauce) but in this Pudding, the sauce is also thickened with cornflour/cornstarch which means less sugar is needed to achieve the syrupy consistency.
Which means you can totally justify topping with ICE CREAM!!! In fact, scratch that. Ice cream is mandatory!! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
More warm, cosy desserts
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Self Saucing Butterscotch Pudding
Ingredients
Butterscotch Pudding:
- 1/4 cup (50g) dark brown sugar , packed (Note 1)
- 1 1/4 cup (185g) plain flour (all purpose flour)
- 2.5 tsp baking powder
- 100g / 7 tbsp unsalted butter , melted
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup (125ml) milk (full or low fat)
- 4 tbsp golden syrup (Note 2)
Butterscotch Sauce:
- 3/4 cup (150g) dark brown sugar , packed (Note 2)
- 2 tbsp cornflour / corn starch
- 2 cups (500ml) boiling water
Serving
- Vanilla ice cream
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F (160°C fan).
- Grease a 6 cup baking dish (1.6L/1.6Q) with butter.
- Butterscotch Sauce: Whisk sugar and cornflour in bowl. Set aside.
- Pudding batter: Place sugar, flour and baking powder in a separate bowl. Whisk to combine.
- Add butter, egg, milk and golden syrup. Whisk until mostly lump free.
- Scrape into baking dish and smooth surface.
- Sprinkle Butterscotch Sauce sugar mixture all over surface.
- Pour boiling water over the surface over the back of a dessert spoon held as close to the batter as you can (to soften the pour so it doesn’t break the surface of the batter).
- Transfer to oven, bake 40 minutes or until skewer inserted into the cake part comes out clean.
- Cut through pudding to reveal butterscotch sauce underneath.
- To serve, scoop pudding into a bowl then douse with butterscotch sauce. Top with ice cream!
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Life of Dozer
Just had breakfast.
Now it’s snooze time.
We all want #LifeofDozer!!
So good, made it for the first time while having guests over for dinner and everyone loved it! Definitely will make again.
Long time Recipetinner- first time reviewer! Used regular brown sugar for this and it turned out fantastic, thanks again Nagi! X
Wow, this article is incredibly informative! I loved how you explained complex concepts in such a clear and concise manner. The examples you provided really helped me grasp the topic better. Thank you for sharing your expertise. Looking forward to reading more from you!
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I love your sticky date pudding, but I tried this Butterscotch Pudding and the sauce was a fail. It was a thick gloopy consistency and not at all a sauce. I’m thinking maybe the 2 tablespoons of corn starch is a typo and should be 2 teaspoons?
Just delicious! I’ve made it three times in the past week (dinner at home, book club and extended family dinner), everyone has loved it!
For the third time, I used gluten free flour from Woolworths to account for some members of my family. I added an extra half teaspoon of baking powder (saw this recommended on a GF baking website) and it worked so well!! Still lovely and spongey, just delicious.
Need help! Think my batter was more liquidy!! Any idea?
I made this today and followed the recipe to a tee.
It ended up with so much sauce it was like a floating island of cake in sauce.
Anyone know what I did wrong…
Mmmm, what a great tasting pudding. I’m going to have to make a double batch next time as my husband ate it all!! 🙁
Great recipe! Turned out perfect and was a hit with the family.
However I personally felt it had a strong brown sugar taste. Did anyone else taste that? No one else in the family did. I used dark brown sugar as per recipe…maybe I am not used to the strong dark brown sugar taste.
Yep, I’d agree it wasn’t quite the flavour I was expecting, I made mine well in advance so I was able to carefully lift the cake off the sauce, boiled the sauce briefly with some cream and a touch of salt, et voila! Put it back in with the cake on top and nobody was none the wiser.
So easy and so good! Surprisingly not too sweet. Thanks for another great recipe Nagi!
I made this one tonight and unfortunately wasn’t a fan. Strong baking powder flavour and was lacking something… Massive fan of all other recipes. Nagi’s Sticky date is one of our favourites!
Can I make the components ahead of time then assemble just before I pop in the oven?
Delish!
I halved the recipe as I was only making for me and my husband. I made it in a smaller 3 cup dish and cooked at 180 for 30mins and it came out perfect
Thanks for another banger, Nagi!
I found this lacked flavour. Could it be because I used treacle in place of golden syrup? The textures were fantastic.
I tend to agree Emma. Not as rich as I was expecting like say in a sticky date sauce.
Can this recipe be doubled? Made this for Thanksgiving (and it was a knock-out!) and I’ve been requested to make this again for Christmas with double the attendees.
I’d say the recipe can be doubled, but I’d bake in two separate vessels.
This looks delicious. Can you mix the cornstarch with the sugar and the water to make a paste and then spread it on top of the batter, rather than using the spoon technique? Also, if I wanted to make a whisky caramel sauce (what’s that you say? why yes, I am Irish 😳), would the cake be very dry if I prepared the caramel separately? Thanks for all your amazing recipes Nagi, we adore you ❤️
It would be a soup rather than a paste. Then the sugar and corn flour would not sit on top and may not be evenly distributed. It creates a crunchy top, and assists with the sauce.
Sinfully delicious 😋
Hi Nagi! Can you add chopped pecans under the batter?
If there is a chance there are leftovers, how would you suggest I reheat this or can I eat it cold?
Best recipe ever!!! Could I replace the flour with GF Flour for family member???