Dates make this Hairy Bikers sticky toffee pudding what it is, because 200g of them melt right into the dark sponge. The recipe comes from British Classics, serves eight at about 560 calories, and is ready in 50 minutes.
The book calls it “the greatest of Cumbrian classics” and recommends it for a rainy winter Sunday. Their recipe for sticky toffee pudding also bakes in one big dish rather than little moulds, so there is no fiddly turning out.
The sticky part comes from one move, because you poke holes across the hot pudding and pour in half the sauce. The sponge drinks it down while it stands, and the rest goes on warm at the table.
Hairy Bikers Sticky Toffee Pudding Recipe
Description
Proper northern comfort food from one baking dish, and genuinely easy because the sponge is a simple beat-and-fold. The butterscotch sauce takes five minutes on the hob while the pudding bakes, so everything lands hot together.
Ingredients
For the pudding
For the sauce
Instructions
- Get ready: Preheat the oven to 180°C/Fan 160°C/Gas 4, then butter a large ovenproof dish or a 20 x 30cm brownie tin.
- Soak the dates: Put the dates and bicarbonate of soda in a bowl, then cover them with the just-boiled water and leave to stand.
- Make the sponge: Beat the 50g of butter with both sugars until soft and fluffy, then add the eggs one at a time with a spoonful of flour each. Fold in the rest of the flour, then stir in the dates and all their soaking water.
- Bake: Pour the mixture into the dish and bake for 25-30 minutes, until springy and slightly shrinking from the sides.
- Make the sauce: Put everything in a pan over a low heat and stir until melted, then boil and simmer for a few minutes. It is ready when it coats the back of a spoon like light custard.
- Soak and serve: Poke holes over the hot pudding and pour in half the sauce, then leave it to stand. Warm it through when ready, and serve with the rest of the sauce plus cream or ice cream.
FAQs
Why is there bicarbonate of soda in the date soak?
The bicarb works on the dates while they sit in the boiling water, breaking down their skins so they collapse into the sponge. Without it you get chewy date pieces, but with it the fruit almost disappears into the crumb.
It also deepens the colour, which is partly why a proper sticky toffee pudding looks so dark. One teaspoon is enough, so do not be tempted to add more.
Can I make it without dates?
Honestly, no, because those collapsed dates are not just an ingredient, they are the toffee flavour itself. Their natural sugars caramelise through the sponge, which is what the pudding is named for, and the book adds no walnuts or other padding either.
No version in their books swaps the dates out, so anything date-free would be a different dessert. If dried fruit is the appeal rather than dates specifically, their bara brith is built on sultanas, raisins and currants instead.
Why does the recipe use two different sugars?
Both the sponge and the sauce mix light soft brown sugar with dark muscovado, and the split is deliberate. The light sugar keeps things sweet and tender, while the muscovado brings the deep, almost liquorice edge that plain sugar cannot give.
The same pairing is what makes the sauce taste like real butterscotch rather than melted sugar. Simmer it just until it coats a spoon, because it thickens more as it cools.
Can I make sticky toffee pudding ahead, or freeze it?
Making it ahead is the book’s own advice, because the sauced pudding can sit for a couple of days and it just gets stickier. Unlike their victoria sponge, which has to be eaten on the day, this one genuinely improves with waiting.
The book never mentions the freezer, and it does not need to, since the two-day stand is the better route. Keep the second half of the sauce back, then warm both parts and pour fresh at the table.
How do they make the pineapple and rum sticky toffee pudding?
Everyday Winners turns the whole idea upside down, with pineapple rings baked into a butter and sugar base like a retro classic. The dates become medjool, soaked in boiled water with 25ml of rum, and the sponge gains a tablespoon of treacle.
The sauce turns into a rum butterscotch, with 175g dark brown sugar, 50g butter, 200ml cream and rum to taste. One warning from the book, never use a loose-bottomed tin, because the base will leak straight through, and for more pineapple baking their banana and pineapple cake is the gentler place to start.
