Sticky Date (Toffee) Pudding
A warm, comforting dessert that's a timeless favourite.Before You StartSoftened butter for the cake, cold butter for the butterscotch sauce.The bundt tin is prepared a few steps in (and not at the start) - this is intentional. We want the sugar lining the inside to stay put and not slip down. Follow the steps as suggested.Caster sugar is listed twice; for the cake batter and a smaller amount for lining the bundt tin.You can make the sauce while the cake is in the oven.
Servings: 16
Equipment
- Stick blender/food processor
- Medium Bundt tin the one used in the photos is 24cm across, and (more critically) around 3 litre capacity.
Ingredients
To Prepare the Bundt Pan
- vegetable oil spray
- 50 g (¼ cup) golden caster (superfine) sugar (note)
Cake
- 425 g whole dried unpitted Medjool dates* about 27-28 dates
- 600 ml boiling water
- 120 g unsalted butter (softened)
- 260 g golden caster (superfine) sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla paste/extract
- 4 eggs
- 340 g self-raising flour (note)
- 2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda/baking soda (note)
- ⅛ teaspoon coarse sea salt/finishing salt for sprinkling over finished cake
Butterscotch Sauce (makes about 1 litre)
- 260 g unsalted butter (cold)
- 500 ml double/heavy/thickened cream (460g)
- 400 g soft dark brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla paste/extract
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Boil Water - put the kettle on. We need hot water for soaking the dates.
- Preheat Oven - to 160°C.
- Pit Dates – one at a time, remove any stalks (which look like little caps). Squeeze the date between your thumb and first finger at one end to push the pointy pit/stone out. The date will naturally split. Discard the stone and finish tearing the date in half. Place the date pieces in:in a large heat-resistant and deep container if you’ll be using a stick-blender to blend them later. A straight-sided saucepan works well, ORstraight into the food processor bowl if using that.425 g whole dried unpitted Medjool dates*
- Soak– cover the dates with 600ml boiling water. Make sure all the dates are under the surface of the water. Leave to soak while you continue with the recipe.600 ml boiling water
- Cream Butter & Sugar - using a stand-mixer (blade attachment) or electric hand whisk at medium speed until well combined. It will get a little lighter and fluffy, around 5 minutes. Don’t worry if the sugar hasn’t fully dissolved. It's OK if the mix still feels a bit grainy when you rub some between your fingers.120 g unsalted butter260 g golden caster (superfine) sugar
- Eggs & Vanilla – by hand, whisk the vanilla and eggs together in a bowl. Add this in three stages to the creamed butter and sugar. Stop the mixer before adding each addition. Use a silicone spatula to loosen any congealed mix from the bottom of the bowl. Once you have added all the egg, continue whisking at medium speed for another 5 minutes. The mix will be smooth and not grainy now. You can do the rest of the mixing by hand.4 eggs2 teaspoons vanilla paste/extract
- Prepare Bundt Tin - generously spray the inside of your tin with vegetable oil, including the inner tube. Sprinkle in some sugar and shake to distribute evenly. Shake out and discard any excess.vegetable oil spray50 g (¼ cup) golden caster (superfine) sugar
- Bicarbonate Soda - sprinkle the bicarbonate of soda over the dates in water and blend. The mix will lighten in colour and texture and foam up slightly.2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda/baking soda
- Combine Wet Ingredients - add the pureed dates to the blended egg mix from before. Combine well. A flexible spatula is handy for making sure there is no unmixed batter at the bottom of the bowl. Don’t worry if the mix looks a little curdled.
- Batter - sift the flour into a bowl big enough to take all the batter ingredients. Make a well in the flour and fill it with some of the wet ingredients. Gradually work the flour into the wet, working from the centre out. Add the rest of the wet ingredients in stages to avoid getting lumps. Try not to overwork the mix. As the mixture loosens, you can start adding more wet at a time.340 g self-raising flour
- Pour - into the prepared bundt tin, trying not to get any into the centre tube. Smooth the top lightly so that it is even all the way around.
- Bake - for 50 minutes, or until a skewer inserted somewhere in the middle of the ring comes out sticky, but not thick with raw batter. Retest the batter after 5-minute intervals if the batter is still raw.
- Make the Sauce – cut the butter into cubes. Combine the sauce ingredients in a large saucepan set over low-medium heat. Stir often until the butter cubes melt. Now you can increase the heat and bring to a gentle simmer for 7-10 minutes, or longer if you want a thicker consistency. Keep a close eye on it, it will easily boil over if it gets too hot. Take off the heat if it's starting to rise until it settles again. If it splits, don’t fret. Whisk energetically or use a stick immersion blender and it will come good. Reserve about 125ml (½ cup) sauce to paint the cake. You can pour the rest into a jug for serving.500 ml double/heavy/thickened cream400 g soft dark brown sugar260 g unsalted butter2 teaspoons vanilla paste/extract⅛ teaspoon salt
- Unmould Cake – let the cake sit in the pan for 5 minutes out of the oven. Then use a thin silicone spatula to work a little way down the sides all the way around to loosen the cake. If there is any cake over the opening of the centre tube, cut or push this away gently. Wearing oven gloves, hold a cooling rack over the top of the cake and invert both the tin and the rack together. Leave for another 5 minutes without removing the pan. Hopefully, the cake will slide down over this time and you can gently lift the pan away. If not, give the pan a gentle shimmy. Still not coming out? Return the cake to the cooling (but still warm) oven for about 10 minutes. Then repeat the loosening, inverting and shimmying technique.
- Paint Cake - using the reserved sauce, brush the still-warm cake with the still-warm sauce all over. Don’t forget the inside of the hole. Pour over any remaining sauce. Sprinkle the top with some finishing salt. You might want to put a tray under the cooking rack to collect drips. Allow the cake to cool, then transfer (carefully!) to a serving plate.⅛ teaspoon coarse sea salt/finishing salt
- Serve - Serve slices with some extra sauce poured over and a scoop of vanilla ice-cream.
Notes
Golden Caster (Superfine) Sugar - caster sugar is granulated sugar that has been more finely milled. This makes it easier to dissolve into the wet ingredients in the batter. Golden caster sugar is raw sugar; less refined than normal (white) caster sugar. This gives it a more caramell-y taste that is not only sweet. If you have raw sugar, you can blitz the same weight in a food processor to make it finer - go easy, otherwise you'll end up with icing sugar! If you don’t have raw sugar or golden caster sugar, you can replace with normal (white) caster or granulated sugar. Note that using granulated sugar to coat the inside of the bundt tin results in a slightly crunchy outside to the cake.
Self-Raising Flour - if you don’t have, replace with the same weight of plain/all-purpose flour and add 2 ½ teaspoons of baking powder.
Bicarbonate of Soda – NOT the same as baking powder! Confusing because it is also referred to as ‘baking soda’.
Make ahead
This cake improves with time. It would easily keep for up to 5 days at room temperature. Keep the sauce refrigerated though
Freezing
The cake and sauce means don’t freeze solid. This makes it easy to freeze without having to worry about portioning first. You don’t even have to remember to defrost them - they microwave quickly and easily from frozen. Even so, you’ll probably find it more convenient to freeze any leftover cake in portions for easier storage. Wrap sections well in baking paper, then tightly in foil. The double wrap helps protect the cake from absorbing freezer smells. Don’t forget to label! I like to put the foil-wrapped bundles together in a Tupperware container. There’s something very unappealing about a lone foil wodge in the freezer. Even if you remember the time and effort that went into making it in the first place ;)
Freeze the sauce in a glass container to keep it fresh.
To serve from frozen:
Microwave individual portions of the cake with a few tablespoons’ worth of sauce dolloped on. This will only take about 45 seconds until the cake is heated through and the sauce in molten and bubbling hot. How to reheat the whole pudding I have made this in advance to reheat for big gatherings. Turn the pudding out of the bundt and paint with sauce as normal. Place on an ovenproof platter. Cover with baking paper and foil. You can freeze it at this point if you’re making more than a few days in advance. Defrost in the fridge overnight if frozen. Keeping it covered, warm though in a preheated oven set to 160°C for 40 minutes. Bring the sauce to room temperature. Reheat in the microwave or in the oven alongside the cake. Stir occasionally. If it splits, whisk like crazy or use a stick blender. Don't have a bundt tin? These pan sizes will work too.
Round pan 24cm across (9 ½ inch)
Square pan 25cm sides (10 inch)
Rectangular pan 30 x20cm (12 x 8 inch), or equivalent dimensions. Note that bundt cakes generally take a bit longer because the cake is quite deep. If you cook in a non-bundt cake tin, start checking for doneness after 35 minutes, in 2-5 minute intervals. Want to do a half-batch? Use these pan sizes for half the batter. You can halve the sauce too.
Round pan 19cm (7 ½ inch)
Square pan 19cm sides (7 ½ inch)
Rectangular 23 x15cm (9 x6 inch), or equivalent dimensions. Start checking the cake for doneness after 25 minutes, in 2-3 minute intervals. Want to make gluten-free? Easy. Just replace the flour with self-raising gluten-free flour. I've tried this and it tastes and 'behaves' exactly the same.
Microwave individual portions of the cake with a few tablespoons’ worth of sauce dolloped on. This will only take about 45 seconds until the cake is heated through and the sauce in molten and bubbling hot. How to reheat the whole pudding I have made this in advance to reheat for big gatherings. Turn the pudding out of the bundt and paint with sauce as normal. Place on an ovenproof platter. Cover with baking paper and foil. You can freeze it at this point if you’re making more than a few days in advance. Defrost in the fridge overnight if frozen. Keeping it covered, warm though in a preheated oven set to 160°C for 40 minutes. Bring the sauce to room temperature. Reheat in the microwave or in the oven alongside the cake. Stir occasionally. If it splits, whisk like crazy or use a stick blender. Don't have a bundt tin? These pan sizes will work too.
Round pan 24cm across (9 ½ inch)
Square pan 25cm sides (10 inch)
Rectangular pan 30 x20cm (12 x 8 inch), or equivalent dimensions. Note that bundt cakes generally take a bit longer because the cake is quite deep. If you cook in a non-bundt cake tin, start checking for doneness after 35 minutes, in 2-5 minute intervals. Want to do a half-batch? Use these pan sizes for half the batter. You can halve the sauce too.
Round pan 19cm (7 ½ inch)
Square pan 19cm sides (7 ½ inch)
Rectangular 23 x15cm (9 x6 inch), or equivalent dimensions. Start checking the cake for doneness after 25 minutes, in 2-3 minute intervals. Want to make gluten-free? Easy. Just replace the flour with self-raising gluten-free flour. I've tried this and it tastes and 'behaves' exactly the same.