Clement Clarke Moore wrote “Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse”; but I gather they would be stirring if they had Sticky Toffee Pudding baking in the oven! This classic British dessert is perfect for this time of year and is personal favorite of Kate’s. A frequent visitor of The Old Boot Inn which is located near the Middleton’s home in Bucklebury, Kate is said to have ordered this frequently. A feature in Celebrate’s “Favorite British Desserts” we sure hope Pippa let her sister be the taste tester!
Sticky Toffee Pudding: (serves 8)
Ingredients:
- 3 1/2 oz of chopped dates
- 1 tsp of vanilla extract
- 1 tsp of baking soda
- 2 cups of water
- 2 cups of self-rising flour
- 4 TBS of softened unsalted butter
- 3/4 cup of packed soft light brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
For the sauce:
- 1/2 cup of heavy cream
- 2 TBS of unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup dark brown sugar
- 3 tsp of chopped fresh ginger (optional; if you want extra spice)
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 350 F. Lightly grease a 9 x 10-inch rectangular baking pan.
- Mix the chopped dates with the vanilla extract and baking soda with 2 cups of water.
- In a separate bowl, cream the butter and packed light brown sugar together until pale and fluffy, then gradually beat in the egg
- Sift the flour and gradually add this to the creamed mixture with the pumpkin pie spice and ground cinnamon.
- Add the date mixture and stir to combine.
6. Pour into the baking pan, and bake for 40 minutes until it’s spongy to the touch.
To make the sauce:
- Mix the heavy cream in a pan with the unsalted butter and dark brown sugar. Add the ginger if you like and stir over low heat until the sugar is dissolved.
- Serve the pudding with the sauce poured over followed by a drizzle of cream.
The great thing about this dessert is that you can freeze it for up to a month since it makes many servings. If you are freezing it, I would make the sauce fresh as needed. And there you have it, one of the best desserts I have ever made and I am not exaggerating! The flavors of the brown sugar, pumpkin spice, and cinnamon are to die for, and the warmness of the cake combined with the gooey-ness of the sauce makes both your belly and heart melt.
Thanks Christina! That’s quite alright – it’s a busy time of year! I ended up putting in 1 and 1/2 cups all purpose flour. It’s was alright – it’s tasted great, but I thought the consistency was a little strange. It was kind of like bread pudding and I imagined it might be more like cake. 2 cups of the self rising flour might help that, though! Regardless, I served it at my family’s Christmas Eve party and it was a big hit! We ate every bit of it, I got a lot of compliments, and my aunt requested I make it next year too! So kudos on a great recipe!
I am so happy it all worked out well! Funny you mention that, because I made it for Christmas today and I noticed the consistency was different than when I made it the first time. I think I remember the batter being so thin that I added more flour so it made it more cake like. This time I followed the flour measurement exactly and it came out like you said, bread pudding. I think that is the correct texture though and I liked it even more this time! Everyone in my family loved it as well…it will definitely become a tradition.
I’m making this recipe right now (I’ve already started)… and I’ve got a problem: there is no amount of flour listed in the ingredients section. How much flour should I put in?
(I had no problem finding the pumpkin pie spice, by the way!)
Hi Kaela,
Forgive me for not seeing this earlier! Yes you are right, I forgot to put the amount of flour in. It calls for 2 cups of self-rising flour…What did you end up doing? I apologize greatly.
This is great and I can’t wait to try it! But what is “pumpkin pie spice”? Cinnamon and cloves?
You won’t be sorry Kaela! Pumpkin pie spice is a blend of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and allspice but you can buy prepackaged “pumpkin pie spice” in the regular spice section at the grocery store….let us know how it turns out!