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Sticky Date Pudding
Sticky Date Pudding with Butterscotch Sauce is a popular café dessert in Australia, one which I dream of frequently but seldom make. But the recent snowy weather in Zurich has prompted much stoveside activity in our home, and a warming pudding of this sort felt necessary to chase the winter blues away.
My favourite type of Sticky Date Pudding is typically baked in a roasting tray with the butterscotch sauce forming underneath the pudding. And this type of pudding is perfect for when you know that the whole dessert will be eaten in one sitting.
At other times, I like to make Sticky Date Pudding as a large cake, which can be sliced big or small, and drizzled elegantly with some warm Butterscotch Sauce.
Sticky Date Cake Recipe
The advantage of making a Sticky Date Cake vs a Sticky Date Pudding is that the former keeps better for serving over several days.
This recipe for Sticky Date Cake comes from Everyday by Bill Granger, an old favourite which I frequently turn to for inspiration during the busy week.
The only change I made to this recipe was to reduce the quantity of dates; I often find Sticky Date Puddings or Sticky Toffee Puddings to be on the sweet side, plus my supermarket only sells dates in packets of 200 g, so I went with this quantity.
The result was a lovely and moist date cake which was modest in sweetness, thus lending itself well to be generously draped in a warm Butterscotch Sauce.
Butterscotch Sauce Recipe
And the following Butterscotch Sauce recipe is incredibly easy to make – just three ingredients for a decadent and satisfying jug of golden deliciousness.
How to Serve Sticky Toffee Pudding
The Sticky Date Pudding or Sticky Toffee Pudding should be served warm with the Butterscotch Sauce still bubbling from the stove, but as the cake keeps rather well over several days, it is also lovely served at room temperature with the warm sauce alongside.
Some fresh raspberries provide welcome tartness against the sweetness of the butterscotch sauce, and a scoop of vanilla ice-cream would make this dessert sing.
Sticky Date Pudding with Butterscotch Sauce
Ingredients
For the Sticky Date Pudding
- 200 g (7 oz) pitted dates
- 250 ml (1 cup) water
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 70 g (⅓ cup) unsalted butter, diced
- 170 g (¾ cup) caster sugar, (superfine sugar)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 eggs
- 185 g (1 ¼ cup) plain flour, (all-purpose flour)
- 5 g (1 teaspoon) baking powder
For the Butterscotch Sauce
- 185 g (1 cup plus 2 tablespoons) light muscovado sugar, or light brown sugar
- 200 ml (¾ cup plus 1 tablespoon) double cream, (heavy cream)
- 150 g (1 ⅓ stick) unsalted butter
Instructions
For the Sticky Date Pudding
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) (without fan).
- Line the base of a 20 cm (8 inch) cake tin with baking paper and grease the sides with butter.
- Chop the dates and put them into a medium saucepan with the water (you will need a saucepan which will be big enough to hold all of the cake ingredients later).
- Cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes, or until the dates are soft and all of the water has been absorbed.
- Remove the pan from the heat.
- Stir through the baking soda and butter.
- Leave the saucepan to cool for about 10 minutes.
- Stir through the sugar, vanilla extract and eggs.
- Fold through the flour and baking powder.
- Pour the cake batter into the prepared cake tin and bake for about 50 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.
For the Butterscotch Sauce
- Mix together the sugar, cream and butter in a small saucepan.
- Simmer over medium heat until the butter has melted, the sugar has dissolved, and the sauce has thickened.
Kitchen Notes
- SERVE INDIVIDUALLY
I prefer to serve this dessert by cutting a piece of cake and drizzling it with the butterscotch sauce, rather than pouring all of the sauce over the entire cake before serving. - STORAGE TIPS
* The cake keeps well for several days under a covered cake stand or covered in clingfilm.
* The butterscotch sauce will harden once cooled, so it is best to keep it in a small saucepan in the fridge. Simply reheat the fridge-cold sauce in the saucepan over medium heat until it is bubbling, and thin it with a bit of cream if needed. - RECIPE CREDIT
This recipe is adapted from Everyday by Bill Granger. - OVEN & STOVE TEMPERATURES
All recipes on this website have been tested on an induction stove and/or with a conventional oven (i.e. an oven without fan). All recipes on this website use temperatures for a conventional oven, unless otherwise mentioned. Convection ovens (i.e. fan-forced ovens) are typically 20°C/70°F hotter than conventional ovens, but please check your manufacturer’s handbook. - CONVERSIONS
To convert from cups to grams, and vice-versa, please see this handy Conversion Chart for Basic Ingredients.
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This recipe was first published on 5 February 2015. It has been updated with more comprehensive recipe notes.
I love sticky date cake!! First time I tried it thinking I wouldn’t like it, and then, I felt in love 😛
But both times I’ve done (quite different from your recipe), was at Christmas (it reminds me the typical Britisch christmas cake, don’t know why!). Once I dared and I bought it canned (as awful as choosing fish and chips at that restaurant, I guess).
Yours looks great, never think about put some raspberries, but I can imagine how delicious it is!!!
What a shame what happened to you!!! It’s a pity when this happens, especially if there are other dishes that we know are going to work. This is why sometines I don’t dare choosing new things in old places 😛
Have a nice end of week, Thanh!!!!!
I’m a bit like you – I often order the same thing at the same restaurant because I’m sometimes too scared to try something new, just in case it doesn’t taste good. But I never expected that a restaurant could stuff up something as simple as fish and chips! At least dessert was good 🙂
Sticky toffee pudding is my absolute favourite so a whole cake-sized one? Yes please!
My husband and I often take our time getting through a whole cake on our own, but we had no trouble with this one! I used to make Nigella’s sticky toffee pudding all of the time but often found it too sweet. Plus, it never tasted that great the next day because the sauce would have thickened. So this cake with the separate butterscotch sauce is perfect for me 🙂
I need to get on this date cake thing! It looks lovely and that sauce is calling my name!!
You won’t regret this combination! Enjoy 🙂
This looks divine! I’ve always wanted to try making this!
Thanks, Jessie! Please let me know if you do try this recipe. Would love to know what you think of this recipe.
Gorgeous! I love the addition of the fresh raspberries! This is so reminiscent of sticky toffee pudding, and I would imagine an Australian version would be similar…
Yes, it’s very much like a sticky toffee pudding, except the cake and sauce are made separately, which is great if you wish to serve it over a few days. And the raspberries are definitely a lovely addition to cut through the sweetness of the sauce.
I’ve actually never had sticky date cake and have come to the sudden realization that I have been missing out on something fantastic. This looks so homey and comforting. . .perfect for these wintery days we having in Boston.
I’ve heard it’s been pretty cold over in Boston! I’m sure this dessert would be perfect for one of your snow days 🙂
Thanh, I happen to love sticky date cake or pudding and made one not too long ago but I had trouble with the caramel sauce (I have an electric stove and I’ve noticed that making caramel sauce is much much easier on a gas stove) and this was a recipe that I had used many many many times… Oh well the end result was delish so I suppose that’s what counts.
Next time I will try yours with the raspberries 😉
Yes, I think making caramel on a gas stove is much easier than an electric stove, especially if you are starting with just sugar in a dry saucepan. Thankfully, Bill Granger’s recipe is pretty easy in that you just mix all of the ingredients together and bring it to a bubble on the stove. Which recipe do you use for your sticky date cake? If it’s a recipe you love, I would love to try it too 🙂
Thank you so much for this recipe. Our guests said it was one of the best desserts they had ever eaten. We also served it with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream. Can’t wait to make this again.
This, the cake looks very BEAUTIFUL ! It looks lovely and that sauce is calling my name! YUM!
Such an elegant dessert and tasted amazing! We’ve been having fairly cool weather here in Melbourne and this dessert was perfect.
Delicious recipe!