Sticky toffee pudding is a date cake wearing a sauce it can't escape. The dates are not optional or detectable: blitzed with boiling water and baking soda they dissolve into a dark, caramel-adjacent sponge that stays impossibly moist. Half the sauce goes on hot from the oven so it soaks in, half at the table for drama.
Everything you need
- 1¼ cups (184 g) chopped dates, pitted
- ¾ cup (178 g) boiling water
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ⅓ cup (76 g) unsalted butter, soft
- ¾ cup (165 g) light brown sugar, packed
- 2 eggs
- 1¼ cups (156 g) all-purpose flour
- 1½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp fine salt
- ½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter (for the sauce)
- 1 cup (200 g) dark brown or muscovado sugar (for the sauce)
- ⅔ cup (155 g) heavy cream (for the sauce)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract (for the sauce)
Weigh, don't scoop. Measuring flour by cups can overpack it and dry out your bake. Tap any ingredient to open its converter.
Method
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Pour the boiling water over the dates and baking soda and leave 10 minutes. The soda breaks the dates down and darkens the sponge. Blitz or mash to a rough purée.
For this step
- 1¼ cups (184 g) chopped dates
- ¾ cup (178 g) boiling water
- 1 tsp baking soda
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Heat the oven to 180°C / 350°F. Grease and line a 20 cm square tin.
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Beat the butter and brown sugar until creamy, then the eggs one at a time. The mix may look split, and the dates fix it.
For this step
- 1¼ cups (184 g) chopped dates
- ⅓ cup (76 g) unsalted butter
- ¾ cup (165 g) light brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- ½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter (for the sauce)
- 1 cup (200 g) dark brown or muscovado sugar (for the sauce)
- ⅔ cup (155 g) heavy cream (for the sauce)
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Fold in the date purée, then the flour, baking powder and salt. Pour into the tin.
For this step
- 1¼ cups (156 g) all-purpose flour
- 1½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp fine salt
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Bake 30 to 35 minutes until springy and a skewer comes out clean. Meanwhile simmer all the sauce ingredients together for 3 minutes, stirring.
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Stab the hot pudding all over with a skewer and pour half the hot sauce over to soak in. Serve squares warm, flooded with the rest of the sauce and cold cream or vanilla ice cream.
For this step
- ⅔ cup (155 g) heavy cream (for the sauce)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract (for the sauce)
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Worth knowing
- Medjool dates if you can, any soft dates if not. Hard baking dates need 5 extra minutes of soaking.
- The stab-and-soak while hot is the sticky in sticky toffee. Skip it and you have date cake with sauce on the side, a lesser dish.
Make it your own
- A tablespoon of black treacle in the sponge deepens it further.
- Bake in a muffin tin for individual puddings, 18 to 20 minutes, soaking each the same way.
Storing & freezing
Covered at room temperature for 2 days or fridge for 4, and it reheats magnificently: 20 seconds in the microwave per square with extra sauce. Both pudding and sauce freeze for 2 months.
Frequently asked
Can you taste the dates in sticky toffee pudding?
Not as dates. Soaked with baking soda and blitzed, they dissolve into a dark toffee-ish sweetness that reads as caramel. Date sceptics eat seconds of this constantly.
Why add baking soda to the date soak?
The alkali softens the date skins so they melt into the crumb, and it darkens the sponge to its classic colour. It's doing chemistry, not leavening, in that bowl.
Cooking in a different unit? Use the cups ↔ grams converter or the recipe scaler to halve or double this recipe.
More to cook
A note on cooking safely. Recipes are provided for informational purposes only and are not medical or nutritional advice. Cooking times, temperatures and quantities are suggestions: use your own judgement, and check that meat, poultry, fish and eggs are properly cooked before serving.
Consult a qualified healthcare professional before making dietary changes, particularly if you have allergies, a medical condition or specific nutritional requirements.