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
Hungry for more? Subscribe to my newsletter and follow along on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram for all of the latest updates.
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,
Wouldn’t it be the case where we put the caramel sauce below and the cake batter above? Or is it just so magical that the sauce would find its way to the bottom? 🙂
Made this last minute wanting some comfort food for desserts seeing that a lot of the reviews were split with regards to the sugar – raw versus brown sugar I was hesitant to go ahead. I make a fabulous chocolate self saucing pudding which doesn’t require an egg nor the sauce needing cornstarch so I was deliberating. In the end I decided to go ahead and try it for myself following the recipe precisely and honestly having made golden syrup dumplings for 30 years I would have to say this is even better …
Giving it a 10/10 it wasn’t overly sweet at all I am so glad I used the dark sugar
Funnily enough I didn’t read the instructions properly for the sauce so I poured my boiling water into the jug with the sugar & cornstarch mixing it all together them pouring over a spoon on top of the pudding batter
Exceeded my expectations and will definitely make this one again my pudding cake was light and fluffy and definitely no after taste with the baking powder not at all
Thank you Nagi xx
How many serves does this make??
This was so easy and delicious. Perfect for a dinner party as I can prep everything before hand and sprinkle the topping and pour the water as soon as I take the main out of the oven. Makes it all look effortless with a fabulous result.
This recipe is delicious! Can’t be improved on, seriously.
Hello from New Zealand 😁
Made this recipe tonight for an extended family dinner. It was a huge hit with everyone!! My granddaughter told me I should go on “The Great Kiwi Bake Off” show!! 😆
I used the Dark Brown Sugar for the first time, definitely a richer flavour…. Absolutely delish! 😁
Hi… I’m wanting to make this recipe for a church function where we will be catering for 70 guests. Can this recepies be upscaled easily, as we only have larger industrial sized baking trays ?
Soooo good. I can’t do gluten or dairy so substituted gluten free flour and plant butter/milk. Still turned out beautifully! I’m going to try the chocolate version tonight!
Can this be frozen at all?
Nagi has mentioned this is the recipe notes
I read you can freeze it. Separate the sponge from the sauce, freeze. If you don’t separate the sauce will soak into the sponge. Hoping this helps.
Can you make this in advance and reheat? If you serve it cold, is there still buttery sauce? Want to make it as a gift for someone, but unsure how to keep it as made.
I’ve made the chocolate self-saucing pudding before and the leftovers taste just as good, but they’re no as saucy – whether eaten cold or re-heated, it’s a bit more solid. It’s probably one of those things that’s best eaten asap.
You can, but all self saucing puddings that are left to stand suck up the sauce as they cool. You end up with kind of mushy cake underneath and no delicious sauciness. Still tastes ok, but nothing like as good. Definitely best served hot from the oven. I put it in the oven to cook while we’re eating mains and then by the time we’ve eaten and cleaned up dessert is ready!
Finally got around to making this! My Mom used to make something similar, but it came out of a box, this was so good! I had concerns pouring the water on, thought I messed up, but it turned out great!
Oh dear, I realised just as I put it in the oven that I had missed the golden syrup from the batter mixture. 🫣. Too late to do anything. It still was really good, but not as good as it should have been. I read though it over and over and still missed it. Senior moment!
Haha I left out the baking powder but remembered just before putting on the sauce ingredients. Hoping it turns out good🤞
Is there a way to make this a dry mix without milk powder and use dairy free milk?
Greetings Nagi from sunny Cape Town South Africa 🌼
Thank you for this wonderful recipe.
Absolutely love this recipe, huge hit with my husband who asks for it quite a bit 🤣 So truly simple, quick and delicious. I don’t have corn flour but I substituted it with Custard Powder and it’s amazing. I sometimes add a bit of cinnamon or ginger cinnamon mix to the butterscotch sauce mix.
Thanks again for sharing this amazing recipe.
Kind regards
Dèé
Has anyone tried adding chopped pie apple to this recipe?
Oooh that sounds so good – I think I’ll try next time
Yep, works well. I usually add a small grated apple but tinned pie apple is also good.
Perfection, super easy to make, def part of my encore dessert dishes! Thanks Nagi, love love your work! ❤️
Hi Nagi, Please, could I substitute with raw sugar? I live in Central Africa and brown sugar is extremely hard to come by or through the roof expensive if I ever find it. I love ALL your recipes – tried and tested to perfection. Has made me much more confident in the kitchen. Something I also greatly appreciate about your recipes – substitutions. As an Aussie I really love that I can still have a taste of home adapted to ingredients I can find locally in Africa. Thanks SO much. Really. I have advocated your website to many friends on our travels and they are always as equally impressed. Love what you do.
Your recipes are on rotation at least 2-3 times a week. ‘Dinner’ has satisfying cooking splutter on most pages. Absolutely love this Butterscotch pudding recipe. Have you considered a ‘Dessert for one’ category of recipes? There are times when I want to whip up a cheeky dessert for myself when the kids and hubby are out but none of the other ‘mug cake’ recipes online are up to scratch. I know you won’t disappoint.
I never comment on recipes, but felt I had to this time. I made this pudding for company and was embarrassed when I served it. I bake a lot, and thought that the baking powder seemed like a lot. I think that may be what ruined the dessert. I will be throwing the rest in the garbage, and won’t make it again.
Another incredible pudding and easy to make. The sponge is so light and fluffy and the generous amount of sauce is essential in my house to keep everyone happy. This works perfectly served with any topping but my fave is with banana and whipped cream, yum. Am always being asked for the recipe to my magic butterscotch pudding. Thanks Nagi.