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…..
Nagi, this pudding is an absolute winner! My husband went unusually silent, savouring his dessert, and the kids licked their plates clean. Best reaction ever. Thank you.
This was my first time making date pudding and, WOW, it turned out amazing! I had a hard time finding whole pitted dates so I used the pre-chopped ones from Sunsweet and they worked great. I also halved the recipe and used a muffin tin; got 6 beautiful individual puddings! It was SO fluffy and the sauce is to die for. Thanks so much for sharing this recipe!!
Hi Nagi,
Can the sauce be frozen?
I was hoping to make this as a dessert for to a family who’s father has had a horrible accident but it needs to be freezable.
Many thanks
Yes! 100%!! Just keep the cake and sauce separate! N x
For reheating this sticky date pudding if a cake tin how long would you recommend reheating in the oven for and what temp?
I made the sticky date pudding in in muffin tins and it turned out fabulous!
Very moist and delicious I made it again 😊
Do you use light brown or dark brown sugar please?
Hi Lindsey, I used light brown sugar here. N x
STICKY DATE PUDDING: Hi the 2nd half of the cake is super dense. Should I replace plain flour with self raising flour? Also any brown sugar will do?
Hi Pamelin, sorry I don’t understand what you mean by “2nd half” – sticky date pudding is typically a more dense cake, but there is bi carb and baking powder in there so you don’t require self raising flour. Any brown sugar will be fine, I typically use light brown. N x
I made it so many time as it always turn out great with me! Thanks for the recipe and because of it I made many people enjoy their desserts.
I’ve made your Sticky Date Pudding twice and both times it’s been an absolute hit with our guests. So moist, rich and comforting!
Just to confirm is it 1 cup and a half cup thicken cream?
Hi Nagi, thank you for the recipe. I was wondering about the 185 gram plain flour you mentioned and went by that rather than 1 & 1/4 cup measure. However, that 185 gram equaled to almost 2 cups, I can understand small differences in cup measurements, but this was way lot and although the cake came out fine, it was slightly dry and I was wondering if it was due to too much flour?
Hi Nagi- I am so excited that I stumbled across this recipe, and will be making it tmr for XMAS 😍🎄🥰 I was wondering how to reduce the sugar as the dates I have are really sweet, or if I could add more of the other ingredients so the taste wouldn’t be too sweet. Could I add some dark treacle in place of the sugar instead? Maybe 2tbsps?
Thank you so much! I really look forward to making this :))
This is the very first sticky date pudding I’ve made in my life and it’s sooooooooooooooo good! I cannot stress this enough. I made a few batches to give away this Christmas. For sure our friends and family will love this. Glad to have found this recipe!
I’m so glad you love it Trix – it’s one of my guilty pleasures!!
Omg I just died!!! That sauce and how moist the pudding was. Used prunes because that is what I had – insanely delicious!
Yum! Thanks Nagi. You’ve given me back my cooking mojo! I’ve been making so many of your recipes lately that my husband now says “your friend again?” referring to you, because I won’t look anywhere else for recipes and inspiration. This is going to be his birthday cake 😉. Thank you!
Amazingly awesome! Thanks for sharing this with all us home chefs, Nagi. 🙂
First: I made with gluten-free flour, and it turned out great. I noticed some folks asking about the brand of gluten-free flour to use. I just bought what they had at Walmart (which is “Divided Sunset”); basically I think that any brand can be used!
Second: I had about 9 oz of leftover homemade date-paste from when I made a corn syrup-free pecan pie at Thanksgiving (also amazing — you should google this), and this is what I used in Nagi’s recipe. The pudding turned out more cake-like, and I think it would have had a better consistency if the dates were prepared as suggested by Nagi. But such a great use of leftover date paste! And still yummy!
Third: I didn’t make the butterscotch sauce. It probably tastes really good, but I’m too tired from all the prepping for the holidays. So we are just going to have either whip cream or vanilla ice cream on top. 🙂
love all your recipes!
will try this soon.
Oh, great, it doesn’t call for Golden Syrup! (Don’t get me wrong, I love Golden Syrup, it’s just a bit difficult to find in the US.) This is highly appealing for Christmas, and I’m adding dates to my shopping list.
Hi Nagi
I am a huge fan of all your recipes and was going to try this for christmas eve dessert, but I just remembered I have some guests who are lactose intolerant, could I sub dairy free marg and also fake cream?
Hi Katie, the butter is important for flavour, although I’m sure lactose free cream would work – I really am unsure about margarine however. N x
Love this recipe! My go to, nailing it every time. Super moist and not too sweet. Now a family favourite