Sticky Date Pudding – you’re my favourite and always will be. Also known as Sticky Toffee Pudding, the simple trick that makes all the difference is to pour some Butterscotch Sauce over the warm cake when it comes out of the oven. It makes it ultra moist and gives it that intense dark colour. Plus, more sauce to serve, of course!
Sticky Date Pudding – a childhood favourite!
Who else has childhood memories of Sara Lee frozen Sticky Date Pudding??
It is the only store bought dessert my mother ever bought – and only on special occasions. And as much as I loved it, my one gripe was always that there was not enough Butterscotch Sauce to go around.
Never fear. You won’t have that problem with this recipe! 😂
I know this recipe is called Sticky Toffee Pudding by most of the world – other than Australia and New Zealand it seems. And given that dates are the key ingredient in the pudding, I would say we’ve got it right for this one!!
Dates are key
I am pretty sure this is the only recipe I use dates for. And I realise that the photo above of the date sludge may look thoroughly unappetising to some people, but rest assured even if you’re a date hater that you can’t taste it in the end result.
The dates contribute to the stickiness and moistness of the sponge, as well as giving it colour. Don’t ask me for a sub! (Oh wait, you can. Prunes. Pretty much the same thing! 😂)
Individual puddings – or a large one for sharing
I think it’s more common here in Australia to make one pudding cake that is then cut to serve. Sara Lee frozen dessert style. Whereas in the UK it seems more common to make individual puddings.
I might be wrong here. But either way will work fine, and I’ve provided cook times and directions for both.
Secret tip: Douse hot pudding with sauce
If you’ve ever made one of those cakes that you douse with syrup, you’ll know exactly what you’re in for with this trick!
It goes like this – as soon as the pudding comes out of the oven, poke lots of holes using a skewer (I find this strangely satisfying but let’s not read too much into this), then pour over some hot butterscotch sauce.
This makes the pudding intensely moist as well as staining the sponge to give it that signature dark brown colour, rather than being a pale golden colour which many sticky toffee pudding recipes are.
It also means this pudding keeps for days and days in the fridge and once reheated, it’s just like it’s fresh out of the oven.
The only question is – will you serve yours with cream or ice cream? I’m an ice cream gal, all the way!! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Sticky Date Pudding
Ingredients
- 280g / 9 oz pitted dates , roughly chopped (Note 1)
- 1 tsp baking soda / bi carb soda
- 1 cup boiling water
- 1/4 cup brown sugar , loosely packed
- 80g / 6 tbsp unsalted butter , softened
- 2 eggs , at room temperature
- 1 1/4 cups plain flour (all purpose flour)
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
Butterscotch Sauce:
- 1 cup brown sugar , tightly packed
- 1 1/2 cups thickened cream (heavy cream)
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 70g / 5 tbsp unsalted butter
Serving:
- Ice cream or dolloping cream
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F (160°C fan-forced).
- Grease 7 pudding moulds (Note 2) with butter or grease and line a 20 cm / 8″ square cake pan with overhang.
Mashed Dates:
- Place dates in a bowl, sprinkle over baking soda. Pour over boiling water. Stand 10 minutes, then mash well with a potato masher (or fork) until it resembles sloppy porridge (see video for texture / thickness). (Note 3)
Batter:
- Place butter and sugar in a bowl. Beat until combined and smooth.
- Add eggs, beat until incorporated.
- Add flour then sprinkle baking powder across the surface. Mix until flour is incorporated.
- Add dates, mix quickly until dates are well incorporated into the batter. (Note 2) Follow directions to make one pudding or individual ones.
One Pudding:
- Pour into cake pan, smooth surface. Bake 35 minutes or until skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
- While still hot, poke about 40 holes all over the surface using a skewer. Pour over 1/2 cup Butterscotch Sauce, leave to soak for 10 minutes.
- Use overhang to lift cake out. Cut, serve warm with remaining warm sauce and ice cream or cream.
Baking Individual Puddings:
- Pour batter into pudding moulds, only fill 2/3 of the way up.
- Bake for 25 minutes, or until skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
- While still hot, poke about 10 holes on the surface of the pudding. Spoon over 1 tbsp of Butterscotch Sauce per Pudding. Leave to soak 10 minutes.
- Turn pudding moulds upside down on serving plate. Serve warm with remaining warm sauce and ice cream or cream.
Butterscotch Sauce:
- Place ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat. Once butter is melted, stir, then bring to simmer.
- Simmer for 2 minutes, stirring once, then remove from heat. Serve warm.
Recipe Notes:
– This recipe probably makes more sauce than you need – but it’s better to err on the side of caution!
– An electric beater will make your life easier but a whisk + wooden spoon will work fine too without exerting yourself too much. Just make sure your butter is well softened and easy to mix by hand.
– Poking holes into the pudding and pouring the sauce over to soak stains the pudding sponge a darker colour as well as adding more moisture into the pudding.
– Sticky Date Pudding is indulgent and very sweet, from both the dates + sugar in sauce. If you don’t have a sweet tooth, this dessert is not for you! To reduce sweetness, you can skimp on the sauce. Or make a lighter, less sweet sauce as follows: Use half the sugar, butter and cream, make per recipe. When it simmers, add 1 cup low fat milk, then 2 tsp cornflour/cornstarch dissolved in 1 tbsp water. Simmer to thicken. 4. Make Ahead: Exceptional for reheating because it’s so moist. Poke the holes and soak with sauce, reserve remaining sauce for serving. Best way to reheat is in the microwave because it keeps the pudding moist. 5. Nutrition per serving, assuming 9 servings and that all Sauce is consumed, which it may not be. I like to ensure there is enough Sauce because running out is a disaster. Nutrition for 7 individual puddings is 703 calories per serving. They are very generous sizes with loads of sauce (because the sauce recipe makes enough for 9 servings for the pudding cake), so when I scale the Sauce down by 20%, it reduces to 606 calories. Calories per serve for lightened up sauce (see Less Sweet Sauce above) is 477 calories.
More cosy warm desserts for cold winter nights
Life of Dozer
If you look real close on the right side, you’ll see the tiniest glimpse of my hand as I desperately tried to hold Dozer back from doing a face plant into the Pupcakes…..
Family favourite! Have made this recipe many times.
I am feeding 8 adults, 1 teenager and 1 child. Do you think it would be worth doubling the recipe? Or keep as is?
Could I make the cake mixture in advance and freeze the raw mixture in the dish and then defrost and cook as normal when I want to use it?
I love this recipe! It was so simple to make and the pudding turned out so fluffy and .. moist. It was a hit!
Although, next time I will use a food processor to purée the dates.
Would you recommend doing anything differently if making double recipe?
Disappointed. Texture lovely but doesn’t deliver on date flavour.
Can you use gluten free flour with the same result
This is a piece of heaven!! Absolutely delicious and worth trying. I just followed the recipe as instructed and it came out so yummy, it melts in the mouth!! Thank u so much for such a great recipe!!
I actually substituted the dates for 4x old pink lady apples that I boiled and mushed up. Surprisingly this recipe still worked and tasted delicious. So I guess sticky apple now. sure it’s even better with the dates!
The cake came out perfectly, but the less sugar sauce was a complete fail! I think I over simmered it, and it tasted more like custard. Have you got any tips on how to make the lighter sauce for those of us trying to cut back on the sugar Nagi?
I’ve made this multiple times since the start of the year when I first discovered this recipe and I can confirm it also works brilliantly with gluten free flour/baking mix 🙂
Also, my mum (who is notoriously picky about food and healthy eating) will scoff an entire bowlful and not even blink and my father in law (who says he doesn’t even like dates) will eat 2 entire bowlfuls. On a more personal level, I can also confirm leftovers make an excellent Sunday morning breakfast! 😀
Can I convert to a 12 cup bundt cake? What would be the conversion like?
This recipe is so delicious and the best sticky date ever. Love that the recipe includes lots of toffee sauce to go with each serve. The whole family loved it. Will be a regular dessert in our house.
Made this with gluten free flour and it was light, fluffy and delicious!
This recipe was amazing! Definitely worth making!! The sauce was absolutely delicious, and it went nicely with thickened cream! I made this for my mum’s birthday, and it was just perfect. I‘m definitely going to make this again! Thank you!
Another winner. I’ve never made a sticky date pudding before but as soon as it was cooked and then soaked in the sauce for five of those required 10 minutes, I was serving up a generous chunk, drizzling it with additional sauce, and eating it amid the ‘Oh My God’ exclamations regarding how good it was. Thanks for another fabulous recipe, Nagi.
Can you freeze these as individual puds?
I bought fresh dates to use. Do I still use the same amount of boiling water?
Can you stream this in a pudding bowl like a steam date pudding? Normally I do this for 2hrs.
Yes that will work for sure, I haven’t done it for this exact recipe but I literally just finished testing a treacle pudding with same batter thickness and did it baked v steamed so I know it will work for this one. In fact, I hate to say it, but this will probably be even better steamed!! More moist 🙂
I put the batter in a pudding bowl and steamed for 2hrs. Worked perfectly. Light and moist, just perfect.
I tried this recipe last week. First time making a date cake. It was super easy and soooooo delicious. Made it a few hours in advance and reheated the cake and sauce before serving. Total perfection. Batter was perfect for a 12 muffin tray. My sauce was a little runny but I didn’t simmer it long enough and i had used normal whipping cream. Still tasted perfect though.
Hi there, can I ask how you reheated it? Thanks!