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!!
Hi. I was wondering if this could be divided up into individual ramekins?
Can’t thank you enough Naji for all your amazing recipes their all fabulous.
Planning on making this tonight. Assume as you’re in Oz the tablespoon is 20ml?
Hello! I’m wondering if you could make the batter and sprinkle with the sugar mixture ahead of time and then just pour over the water when it’s time to bake? I’d only be thinking a couple hours ahead, not days. Thanks 🙂
Hi Lou, not that won’t work sorry, once you’ve mixed the wet ingredients you will have activated the raising agent and need to bake it. N x
Hello, is there any adjusted recipe for making it eggless (not vegan, just egg allergic)? Thanks.
Hi Sylvie, sorry I have tried with any egg alternatives just yet! N x
My family enjoyed this desert very much. So easy to make, I used black Treacle instead of of golden syrup and end up perfect like your video. Love your recipes! Thank you
Looks Amazing! i want to make this 😉
Brilliant recipe. Really quick and easy plus uses common pantry ingredients. Plus it’s delicious. Big tick from my family!
Hey this looks amazing! Wondering if I could remove the golden syrup altogether as it’s already going to be sweet from the brown sugar and sauce? I know removing it will make the dish less sweet but will it also change the texture /require me to change amounts of other ingredients?
Hi Sara, yes it will change the whole consistency of the cake – the golden syrup is key for the butterscotch flavour too. It is a sweet dessert – but that’s the way it is supposed to be 🙂 N x
Is there a good substitute for golden syrup?
Yes – it’s all there in the recipe notes 🙂 N x
I have absolutely no cornflour would I be able to make it without the cornflour? A
It seems so tasty and I have everything else
Hi Abby, do you have rice flour? N x
No, it’s ok I’m going into town today, so I’ll see if I can get any down there (cornflour) that is
I love all your recipes. For me this is the only one that didnt get 5. Rose beautiful smelt amazing. Lush cake perfect amount of sauce. But the sauce tasted watery no flavour really at all. I thought maybe id done something. But shared my picture and my friend also made it. Said great cake looks the part but no flavour. Would butterscotch flavouring help maybe? Or buttering the dish to make more of a caramel
I thought the same thing! There was a lack of flavor. Something is missing to make this pudding stellar, and I can’t figure out what it is! Maybe a little salt, vanilla, and cinnamon? Not sure.
Loved this as a cheeky iso dessert for two. Halved the recipe and it still worked a treat *chef kiss*
Hi Nagi, I love your recipes. Am I missing where it states the quantity/serving for which the nutritional value is based?
Says 6 servings
Canada has golden syrup, too!! Don’t forget about us. : )
Hi Nagi!! I love your recipes, but I made this one last night as a birthday treat for me and it didn’t come out right.. I followed your recipe, but the pudding part was really heavy with very little crunch and the sauce was thick, I don’t know what I did wrong, I want to make it again!! Thank you
Hi Lisa – not sure what you mean about crunch? Could you have mismeasured the liquid in the sauce possibly? N x
HI Nagi – just in case we don’t manage to finish the entire dessert, can it be refrigerated and then reheated again later in the day? Would the sauce still be okay?
Hi Nagi, Thanks for replying. What I meant by “crunch” was the topping looks like it would be crunchy. LOL!! The pudding part was super heavy, could it have been caused by outdated baking powder? Thanks
Mine turned out exactly as you described. Soft spongy top & thick sauce. Let it sit for 10 min. & when I tried to spoon sauce over the cake, it clung to the spoon. My baking powder is new. I weigh my dry ingredients. Baked for 35 min. Going to try same recipe but only 1 tbsp corn starch.
Lisa, the topping is usually like a cake, with maybe a bit of crunchiness on the very top depending on how long you cook it. The pudding is the sauce that ends up on the bottom.
I only have a 8 cup rectangle baking dish, do I need to change the quantities of the ingredients and if so how?
This recipe looks delicious! I’m wondering if it’s possible to make this recipe in 4-6 (6oz) ramekins instead?
Loved it!
So I made the chocolate pudding recipe and doubled the ingredients. It wasn’t done in 1/2 hour. Hope it was ok to double ingredients, including the water. 9 by 13 pan
Can’t have chocolate any more 😰 and I live the chocolate pudding . So glad I came upon this recipe ! Going out to try tonight!