Any British pub worth its salt will have this classic pud on its menu, come rain or shine, summer or winter. The combination of rich fudgy, date-studded sponge and thick sticky butterscotch sauce is one of the UK’s most brilliant combinations. It warms the cockles, sticks to the ribs, and soothes the soul.
The dessert is most famously traced back to the Sharrow Bay Country House Hotel in Cumbria, and chef/hotelier Francis Coulson. Though others have disputed this, it remains the most shared origin story, and sticky toffee pudding continues to be cooked and served with pride as a local treat in the region.
We don’t like to mess too much with original recipes, but we’ve put a few of our own twists in here to deliver a slightly darker, dense result we think is even more indulgent. That includes combining dates with unsulphured dried apricots for greater richness, soaking the fruit with tea (it really does enhance the flavour) and adding Great British Food Award-winning dark rye flour from Marriage’s. Serve with custard, cream, ice cream or all three. It begs to be served warm.
Ingredients (serves 6-8)
- 200g dried, pitted dates
- 100g dried, unsulphured apricots
- 2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 500g boiling water
- 3 English breakfast tea bags
- 100g salted butter, at room temperature
- 200g caster sugar
- 100g dark brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 300g self-raising flour
- 100g dark rye flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
For the sauce:
- 200g light brown sugar
- 200g salted butter
- 400g double cream
- 1 tbsp (heaped) treacle
Method
1. Roughly chop the dates and apricots and put them in a heatproof bowl or pan with the boiling water, teabags and bicarbonate of soda. Leave to sit for a couple of hours to fully soften (you could also do this the night before).
2. Cream together the butter and sugars and gradually beat in the eggs, alternating with the flours. Mix in the baking powder.
3. Gradually add the date mixture (including the water but minus the teabags) to the bowl and allow to rest for a little while to activate the raising agents.
4. Heat the oven to 180C and grease a deep ovenproof dish around 25-27cm by 15-18cm. Spoon in the batter and bake for 30 to 35 minutes until risen and set. It should look sticky but shouldn’t wobble in the middle.
5. To make the sauce add the sugar to a pan with a few spoonfuls of water. Put the heat on low to start to dissolve the sugar crystals. Add the butter and cream and turn up the heat to boil and thicken. Once it’s the desired thickness, stir in the treacle. Add a pinch of salt if you like.
6. Pour a quarter of the sauce over the pudding and warm it through in the oven for 10 minutes before serving. Serve with the rest of the sauce and your cream, ice cream or custard.
