Perfect Sticky Toffee Pudding. British comfort food! NEW RECIPE VIDEO!!! (2024)

FAQs

Is sticky toffee pudding from England? ›

Sticky toffee pudding, known as sticky date pudding in Australia and New Zealand, is a British dessert consisting of a moist sponge cake made with finely chopped dates (optional), covered in a toffee sauce and often served with a vanilla custard or vanilla ice-cream.

While a few different restaurants across England claim they created the dessert, the Scots argue that it was first served at the Udny Arms Hotel Aberdeenshire, Scotland in 1967, where it is still expertly served to this day.

Plain flour: just regular plain (all-purpose) flour is best here. Baking powder and bicarbonate of soda: baking powder provides the rise and the bicarb is mixed with the dates while they soak which helps to soften them.

Unfortunately though these type of self-saucing puddings do not reheat very well as the sauce tends to thicken and be absorbed by the sponge as the pudding cools. So when you reheat the pudding it will have a sticky base but with very little sauce.

Americanized toffee may include nuts, while a completely traditional British toffee will not. On the other hand, English toffee uses pure cane sugar, brown sugar, or molasses as its sweet base and always involves chocolate.

Like the Christmas pudding and figgy puddings before it, the sticky toffee pudding is usually steamed for maximum moisture. Instead of figs, however, very finely chopped dates are added to the cake, which gets covered in a toffee sauce.

The beloved British classic is popping up on dessert menus across the United States, from natural wine bars to Harry Potter World. Sticky toffee pudding is a clear communicator.

A taste of Sticky Toffee Pudding

The Irish love to eat it as a dessert or snack, accompanied by vanilla ice cream (for a touch of freshness!). You'll find them in most local restaurants serving Irish cuisine, but you can also find them in pastry shops.

While sticky toffee pudding has a reputation for being an old-timey dessert, it wasn't until the 1970s that it really became popularized. Fun fact: In New Zealand and Australia the dish is called sticky date pudding.

Do the puddings need to be refrigerated? Yes!

Why can't you freeze sticky toffee pudding? ›

You could freeze leftover portions of the pudding in an airtight container for up to 1 month. Freeze the sauce in a separate airtight container. Thaw the sponge and sauce overnight in the fridge. Reheat the sponge in the microwave and reheat the sauce in a saucepan over a low heat, stiring occasionally.

It can be served with cream, ice cream or custard. It needs to be served with lots of sauce and I prefer a good quality vanilla icecream with mine but you can serve with clotted or double cream. It's a great family pudding and goes perfectly with a Sunday lunch.

I would eat it, the amount of sugar that is in it would preserve it surely. Eat. Deffo. All sugar and fat.

Sealed in an airtight container this recipe will last 5 to 6 days. Wrapped tightly in plastic wrap and then aluminum foil, this sticky toffee pudding recipe will last up to 3 months. Be sure to defrost fully when ready to eat and warm in an oven turned on low for 15 minutes.

Although its origins are unclear, it was likely invented during the 20th century in the Lake District of northwest England, from where its popularity spread across the country.

Sticky toffee pudding was popularized only 50 years ago, during the 1970s, when it first became famous at the Sharrow Bay Country House in Cumbria in the United Kingdom, according to the Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets.

American puddings are closer to what the Brits would call "custard." A British pudding is a dish, savory or sweet, that's cooked by being boiled or steamed in something: a dish, a piece of cloth, or even animal intestine.

This pudding terminology is common in North America and some European countries such as the Netherlands, whilst in Britain, egg-thickened puddings are considered custards and starch-thickened puddings called blancmange. Table cream is a dessert, similar to blancmange.