British · Dessert
Sticky Toffee Pudding
The dessert no charter menu survives without — black-date sponge drenched twice in salted toffee, once in the tin, once at the table
- Prep
- 25 min
- Cook
- 40 min
- Serves
- 8
Ingredients
- Medjool or soft dates, pitted — 250 g, chopped
- Boiling water — 250 ml
- Bicarbonate of soda — 5 g
- Unsalted butter — 90 g, soft, plus 120 g for sauce
- Dark brown sugar — 150 g, plus 180 g for sauce
- Free-range eggs — 2
- Self-raising flour — 200 g
- Black treacle — 20 g
- Vanilla extract — 5 ml
- Double cream — 250 ml (sauce), plus more to serve
- Flaky sea salt — 3 g
- Fine sea salt — 2 g
Method
- Soak dates in the boiling water with bicarb, 15 minutes; mash roughly — keep the liquid.
- Heat oven to 180°C; butter and line a 23 cm square tin.
- Cream 90 g butter with 150 g sugar; beat in eggs one at a time, then treacle and vanilla.
- Fold in flour and fine salt alternately with the date mixture (liquid included) to a loose batter.
- Bake 32–38 minutes until a skewer exits with moist crumbs.
- Sauce: melt 120 g butter with 180 g sugar; add 250 ml cream and simmer 4–5 minutes to a glossy toffee. Finish with flaky salt.
- Skewer the warm sponge all over; pour on a third of the sauce and let it sink 10 minutes.