STICKY TOFFEE PUDDING

Tastes like Christmas

Sticky Toffee Pudding is delicious and the best part about baking it is it is not a pudding at all. There is no steaming, no hot water bath, just kick back and bake simplicity.  As I searched for the recipe I would like to use I came across countless recipes that looked delicious but their measurements were in grams. I do not own a scale, though perhaps I should, and continued my search for a proper English recipe using cups. I came across two that caught my fancy.
Martha Stewart's recipe was intriguing in that it soaked the chopped dates in fresh hot coffee for 15 minutes and used 2 eggs. The toffee sauce used a much smaller amount of heavy cream (3/4 cup) but a generous half cup of butter.

Epicurious's recipe soaked the chopped dates in hot water adding instant coffee granules after soaking for an hour. It then used 4 eggs in it's cake as opposed to Martha's 2. And the last part that caught my eye was its use of two cups of heavy cream for its toffee sauce but only a 1/4 cup of butter.  

What to do? What to do?  Two great recipes.  Which to pick? Well it was Christmas so I thought, why not indulge? And so I did what I always do and mixed and matched what I thought I'd like best.

I chose to use the coffee for soaking as Martha's recipe suggested, but made sure to use four eggs for the batter instead of two as Epicurious instructed in hopes of having a denser pudding cake texture. And who doesn't want more toffee sauce, so two cups of heavy cream were in order and why limit the butter? I also figured rum never hurts. And so I got to work!

The end result was a moist and cozy sticky toffee pudding, drenched in a buttery toffee sauce, served warm with vanilla ice cream.  A perfect ending to Christmas.



Sticky Toffee Pudding 

8 ounces chopped dates (about 1 1/4 cups)

1 cup scalding hot strong black coffee

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

6 table spoons unsalted butter room temperature

1 cup packed dark brown sugar

4 large eggs


Brew coffee.  Chop the dates, and place into a medium sized bowl. When coffee is finished pour it into a sauce pan to bring to a boil. Once it has boiled pour it directly over the dates and cover with a towel to ensure a good soak. It should soak for at least 15 minutes but can be left longer (up to an hour).

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Butter and flour an 8x8 pan (preferably a glass or ceramic, non dark pan). 

Mix the flour, salt, and baking powder together in a mixing bowl.

Beat the butter and sugar together in a large mixing bowl. Add 2 eggs one at a time beating well and fulling incorporating before adding the next.  Add half of the flour mixture to the batter and mix well.  Add the remaining 2 eggs, one at a time, mixing each one in completely. Now mix in the remaining flour mixture and blend well.

Now, add the baking soda to the coffee soaking dates. Mix well so that you have a slight froth.

Add the data mixture to the cake batter and mix until incorporated.

Pour your batter into your prepared pan.  Do not fill to the top. Leave room on top (a quarter inch or so) so that even after it rises you still have room to pour your toffee sauce without it spilling out. If you have extra batter (as I found I did) butter up some ramekins and pour the extra in, or merely discard if you'd prefer.

Bake for 50 minutes (is you use ramekins check them after 15-20 minutes). Insert a toothpick into the center of the cake to ensure it comes out clean and is baked through. Bake for another 5 to 10 minutes if it is under baked. If the toothpick comes out clean take the cake out and allow it to cool.

Now for the toffee sauce!


Toffee Sauce

2 cups heavy cream

1 cup parked dark brown sugar

1/2 cup butter (1 stick)

Rum to taste (I am rather generous with my pours) 

In a sauce pan heat cream, sugar, and butter over medium heat and bring it to a boil, stirring frequently.

Once it has reached a boil, reduce to medium/low heat and allow the toffee sauce to simmer for approximately 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove the sauce from the heat and add a jigger or two (or three!) of rum to your liking.

While the toffee sauce is cooling, take a table knife and run the blade along the edge of the cake to loosen it from the side of the pan. Now using the handle of a wooden spoon poke an array of holes about an inch apart across the entire face of the cake.  This will allow the toffee sauce to really seep deep down into your pudding cake.

Pour half of your warm toffee sauce (about 3/4 cups since it would have reduced down while simmering) over the top of your cake slowly so that it does not over flow ensuring a good soaking. Set aside and allow to cool completely.  Store the remaining toffee sauce in a covered container either at room temperature if it will be served within the next hour or so or story covered in the refrigerator.  Once the cake is fully cooled it too should be covered with cling wrap and stored in the fridge.

When serving you have two options. The first time I serve my Sticky Toffee Pudding I like to preheat the oven to 350 degrees and pop the cake into the oven to heat through (about 10 minutes). While it warms up I pour my toffee sauce back into a sauce pan to reheat at medium heat (it your sauce separates do not fret it will mix together again just fine over the heat.)  You can also pop each slice into the microwave for about 40 seconds to heat through and reheat your toffee sauce using the microwave as well. (

Slice a nice square of pudding and top with the heated toffee sauce and serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream! Enjoy!