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The ultimate Sticky Date Pudding (also known as Sticky Toffee Pudding) which is baked as a cake and served with a decadent Butterscotch Sauce. Delicious served warm and with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream.
![Sticky Date Pudding with Butterscotch Sauce (1) Sticky Date Pudding with Butterscotch Sauce (1)](https://i0.wp.com/eatlittlebird.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/sticky-date-pudding-6.jpg)
Sticky Date Pudding
Sticky Date Pudding with Butterscotch Sauce is a popular café dessert in Australia, one which I dream of frequently but seldom make. But the recent snowy weather in Zurich has prompted much stoveside activity in our home, and a warming pudding of this sort felt necessary to chase the winter blues away.
My favourite type of Sticky Date Pudding is typically baked in a roasting tray with the butterscotch sauce forming underneath the pudding. And this type of pudding is perfect for when you know that the whole dessert will be eaten in one sitting.
At other times, I like to make Sticky Date Pudding as a large cake, which can be sliced big or small, and drizzled elegantly with some warm Butterscotch Sauce.
![Sticky Date Pudding with Butterscotch Sauce (2) Sticky Date Pudding with Butterscotch Sauce (2)](https://i0.wp.com/eatlittlebird.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/sticky-date-pudding-7-680x1024.jpg)
Sticky Date Cake Recipe
The advantage of making a Sticky Date Cake vs a Sticky Date Pudding is that the former keeps better for serving over several days.
This recipe for Sticky Date Cake comes from Everyday by Bill Granger, an old favourite which I frequently turn to for inspiration during the busy week.
The only change I made to this recipe was to reduce the quantity of dates; I often find Sticky Date Puddings or Sticky Toffee Puddings to be on the sweet side, plus my supermarket only sells dates in packets of 200 g, so I went with this quantity.
The result was a lovely and moist date cake which was modest in sweetness, thus lending itself well to be generously draped in a warm Butterscotch Sauce.
Butterscotch Sauce Recipe
And the following Butterscotch Sauce recipe is incredibly easy to make – just three ingredients for a decadent and satisfying jug of golden deliciousness.
![Sticky Date Pudding with Butterscotch Sauce (3) Sticky Date Pudding with Butterscotch Sauce (3)](https://i0.wp.com/eatlittlebird.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/sticky-date-pudding-9-680x1024.jpg)
How to Serve Sticky Toffee Pudding
The Sticky Date Pudding or Sticky Toffee Pudding should be served warm with the Butterscotch Sauce still bubbling from the stove, but as the cake keeps rather well over several days, it is also lovely served at room temperature with the warm sauce alongside.
Some fresh raspberries provide welcome tartness against the sweetness of the butterscotch sauce, and a scoop of vanilla ice-cream would make this dessert sing.
![Sticky Date Pudding with Butterscotch Sauce (4) Sticky Date Pudding with Butterscotch Sauce (4)](https://i0.wp.com/eatlittlebird.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/sticky-date-pudding-10-1024x680.jpg)
Sticky Date Pudding with Butterscotch Sauce
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5 from 4 reviews
- Author: Thanh | Eat, Little Bird
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 50 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour 10 mins
- Yield: Serves 8 to 10
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: Australian
The ultimate Sticky Date Pudding (also known as Sticky Toffee Pudding) which is baked as a cake and served with a decadent Butterscotch Sauce. Delicious served warm and with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream.
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Ingredients
For the Sticky Date Pudding
- 200 g (7 oz) pitted dates
- 250 ml (1 cup) water
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 70 g (⅓ cup) unsalted butter, diced
- 170 g (¾ cup) caster sugar (superfine sugar)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 eggs
- 185 g (1 ¼ cup) plain flour (all-purpose flour)
- 1 heaped teaspoon baking powder
For the Butterscotch Sauce
- 185 g (1 cup plus 2 tablespoons) light muscovado sugar (or light brown sugar)
- 200 ml (¾ cup plus 1 tablespoon) double cream (heavy cream)
- 150 g ( 1 ⅓ stick) unsalted butter
Instructions
For the Sticky Date Pudding
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) (without fan).
- Line the base of a 20 cm (8 inch) cake tin with baking paper and grease the sides with butter.
- Chop the dates and put them into a medium saucepan with the water (you will need a saucepan which will be big enough to hold all of the cake ingredients later).
- Cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes, or until the dates are soft and all of the water has been absorbed.
- Remove the pan from the heat.
- Stir through the baking soda and butter.
- Leave the saucepan to cool for about 10 minutes.
- Stir through the sugar, vanilla extract and eggs.
- Fold through the flour and baking powder.
- Pour the cake batter into the prepared cake tin and bake for about 50 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.
For the Butterscotch Sauce
- Mix together the sugar, cream and butter in a small saucepan.
- Simmer over medium heat until the butter has melted, the sugar has dissolved, and the sauce has thickened.
Kitchen Notes
I prefer to serve this dessert by cutting a piece of cake and drizzling it with the butterscotch sauce, rather than pouring all of the sauce over the entire cake before serving.
The butterscotch sauce will harden once cooled, so it is best to keep it in a small saucepan in the fridge. Simply reheat the fridge-cold sauce in the saucepan over medium heat until it is bubbling, and thin it with a bit of cream if needed.
STORAGE TIPS
The cake keeps well for several days under a covered cake stand or covered in clingfilm.
RECIPE CREDIT
This recipe is adapted from Everyday by Bill Granger.
OVEN TEMPERATURES
All recipes on this website state temperatures for a regular oven (i.e. a conventional oven without fan). If you have a convection oven with a fan, please consult the manufacturer’s handbook on how to adjust the temperature and baking time accordingly.
CONVERSIONS
To convert from cups to grams, and vice-versa, please see this handy Conversion Chart for Basic Ingredients.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: Nutritional info for the cake
- Calories: 255
- Sugar: 30.4g
- Sodium: 143mg
- Fat: 6.8g
- Carbohydrates: 46.5g
- Fiber: 1.9g
- Protein: 3.6g
- Cholesterol: 52.3mg
#eatlittlebird
![Sticky Date Pudding with Butterscotch Sauce (12) Sticky Date Pudding with Butterscotch Sauce (12)](https://i0.wp.com/eatlittlebird.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/sticky-date-cake-reader-photo-1.jpg)
Update
This recipe was first published on 5 February 2015. It has been updated with more comprehensive recipe notes.