This sticky toffee pudding cake is everything we love in a traditional sticky toffee pudding transformed into a rich and decadent layer cake. Brown sugar sponges studded with caramelly dates are enrobed in a vanilla buttercream before getting drizzled with toffee sauce. Are you drooling yet? I am!
Whenever I’m out for a traditional dinner I always scan the dessert menu for sticky toffee pudding, if it’s not there, I’m not there. Fact! There’s a reason it’s a massive staple of the British menu, it’s quite possibly the perfect way to round off an already calorific meal. Topped off with some creamy vanilla ice cream and you’ve got perfection in my eyes.
Since we’re in the season of overindulgence when better to share my recipe for this unbelievable sticky toffee pudding cake, inspired by the king of desserts. The combination of dark muscovado sugar and black treacle gives this cake such amazing depth, the warmth and spiciness coming from the rib sticking treacle is something special. Here’s the part where I’m going to alienate a good portion of my readers but I beg of you, stick with me… this cake is nothing without the addition of dates! Yep, you heard, dates are the key to a really sticky toffee pudding. Miss em out and I’ll send the heavies round!
Okay, okay I’m just joking. I won’t judge if you leave them out (maybe) but I promise you, you’ll be missing out. I like a bit of bite in my cake so I left the dates a little on the chunky side but if you’re not a fan of the texture (like my husband) you can always blitz them into tiny bits in a food processor first.
Since I’m a little bit of a Christmas lush I decided to add a drop of Bourbon to my caramel sauce. It just adds a little bit of cheer to an already amazing cake, but if you’re not into booze in your sweets, just leave it out.
I find the best way to drizzle my cakes is to pour the slightly cooled sauce into a disposable piping bag of trim off a tiny hole before squeezing little droplets of caramel all around the edge of the cake. It takes a little bit of practice but you’ll soon be drizzling like a pro. If you haven’t got a piping bag you can easily drizzle using a spoon, your runs my be a little more uneven but it’ll still look like a showstopper!
When I took a few portions of this cake to my parents house my stepdad called it ‘a very sophisticated cake’ which I thought was funny but also quite an apt description. If you make this one, let me know what you thought in the comments. It’s quite possibly one of my favourite cakes this year!
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Sticky Toffee Pudding Cake
- Total Time: 1hr 15mins
- Yield: serves 10 1x
Ingredients
For the Cake:
- 200g unsalted butter
- 250g dark muscovado sugar
- 200g black treacle
- 200ml whole milk
- 2 large free-range eggs
- 300g plain flour
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 200g chopped dates
For the Toffee Sauce:
- 250ml double cream
- 1 tbsp black treacle
- 1tsp bourbon whiskey
- 150g demerara sugar
- 100g unsalted butter
For the Frosting:
- 250g unsalted butter, softened
- 450g icing sugar
- 50ml whole milk
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 175°C. Grease the base and sides of 3 8″ loose bottomed cake tins before lining the bottom of each tin with baking parchment. Set aside.
- In a large, heavy bottomed sauce pan melt the butter, sugar and treacle, stirring until all the sugar has dissolved and everything is all melty and smooth. Remove the pan from the heat.
- Whisking continuously pour the milk into the saucepan with the hot mixture before whisking in the eggs one at a time. Fold the flour and bicarb into the batter until just combined then stir the chopped dates through.
- Divide the batter between the prepared tins and bake for 30-35 minutes or until a skewer pushed into the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tins for 5 minutes before removing the cakes and transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Meanwhile make the toffee sauce. Put the double cream, treacle, sugar, bourbon and butter in a saucepan and heat gently until the sugar has dissolved. Turn up the heat and boil for 5 minutes or until the sauce thickly coats the back of a metal spoon. Set aside.
- To make the frosting, using an electric mixer beat together the butter, icing sugar and milk until light and fluffy, around 5-10 minutes. If it’s still a little stiff, add a little more milk until the frosting becomes spreadable.
- To assemble the cake, put the first layer on a cake stand. Spread the top of the cake with some of the buttercream and spread over the cake, repeat with the remaining sponges.
- Cover the top and sides of the cake with the remaining buttercream, using a bench scraper or a large pallet knife scrape any excess frosting off the sides of the cake so you can see the cake layers peaking through. Square off the top with the spatular and put into the fridge to chill for 30 minutes. You should still have a little frosting left in the bowl, we’ll use this to create a little crown around the top of the cake.
- Pour the toffee sauce into a piping bag and pipe drips of the caramel around the top of the cake, letting the drips cascade down the side of the cake. Chill in the fridge for another 30 minutes.
- Once chilled whip the remaining frosting for a minute before transferring to a piping bag fitted with a round nozzle. Carefully pipe a little crown of splodges around the top of the cake and top with sprinkles, chopped nuts or just leave plain.
Notes
- The un-iced cakes can be wrapped in cling film and frozen for up to 3 months. Simply decorate from frozen.
- Don’t like boozy sauces, simply leave the bourbon out.
- Prep Time: 40 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Category: Baking
- Cuisine: Cakes
Keywords: Sticky Toffee Pudding, Cake, Baking, Layer Cakes, Pudding, Dessert, Christmas
I can’t decide what’s better, the way that this sounds or the way that it looks! I bet it tastes unreal too. Sticky Toffee Pudding is one of my favourite desserts so I will definitely be saving this back for a day where a sweet treat is needed!
Looks amazing and I know that this is something that my dad would love! He is big sticky toffee fan!
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I love sticky toffee pudding and never thought how it could be transformed into a cake. This looks amazing and all I can think of now is wanting to try it x
My husband loves sticky toffee pudding, I wouldn’t have thought about making this into a celebration style cake, I’ll have to give it try
Sign me up – this looks incredible!! I’m not from the UK, so I first tried a sticky toffee pudding at Gordon Ramsay’s restaurant in Las Vegas and I was amazed. It sounds kind of boring, to be honest, but it is so DELICIOUS. And this cake looks absolutely to die for!
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Oh my goodness, this looks absolutely incredible! I will have to make this as I love sticky toffee pudding and can imagine this tastes amazing.
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This cake looks so creative and moist! I wish I had a piece in front of me right now!
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This looks so delicious! I’ve never heard of this, but I want to make it.
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This doesn’t look like any sticky toffee pudding that I’ve seen before. Usually the look of it doesn’t appeal to me but this looks so nice x
This cake looks plain perfection. Love it and I must make it super quick. Perfect for the Christmas period and all the guests we have over.
★★★★★
Sticky toffee pudding is my favourite dessert AND I love cake so you’ve sold it to me. Definitely need to make this!!!
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Wow that’s one impressive looking cake. Love sticky toffee pudding but have never tried the flavours in a cake but it sounds delicious.
Oh my this looks absolutely delicious, so decadent and yummy! Sticky Toffee is one of my husbands favourites so I may have to give this recipe a try over Christmas. Thank you so much for sharing!
Wow! My mouth is watering right now. Looks so delicious. Thanks for the recipe. I may have my friend bake this for Christmas.
You are so talented. This looks amazing and it has some of my favorite flavors!
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Sticky toffee pudding is something you will never see on a dessert menu where I live, so honestly, I have never had it. But wow, that cake which is so pretty just has some amazing flavors that makes me want toffee pudding plus a slice of your cake.
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Oh, you’re missing out. It really is a delicious dessert, I hope you get to try it one day! 🙂
Katie xoxo
Oh my heavens, this cake is unbelievable! You have combined some of my favorites all in one cake – toffee, bourbon, Goodness!
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Give me all the toffee!! Love that flavor profile in your cake! You made it absolutely gorgeous to boot. Looks amazing!
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This is so pretty! I have just had my Christmas delivery of treacle and golden syrup – I must make this! I make sticky pudding once a twice a year, and it’s a family favourite. This might take its place!
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Wow, this cake is gorgeous! I’m going to make this for an upcoming birthday party, thank you.
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The cake looks absolutely diving!! I love the bourbon sauce, ties everything together beautifully!
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This cake is a stunner! It would be a showstopper if I were to bring this for Christmas. I have GOT to give it a go!!
Everything about this cake sounds amazing, and the presentation is stunning! This will be the perfect way to end Christmas Eve dinner. Thanks so much for sharing!
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This sticky toffee pudding cake looks absolutely delicious – and gorgeous too! The bourbon toffee sauce is an added bonus on an already dreamy cake!
★★★★★
Oh my this cake looks gorgeous and it the pictures are drool worthy. The toffee sauce is great addition.
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Hi, I’d love to make this but can’t find where you add the dry ingredients? (flour and bicarb) I assume it’s folded in with the dates but just to be sure… I hope im not just missing it if anyone could help that’d be great 🙂
Hi Aiva, I’m so sorry, I must have missed that little bit out. I’ve just updated the recipe 🙂
Thanks,
Katie xoxo
How would you go about making it in advance? Can I make it, ice it and keep it overnight then pour the toffee sauce and pipe the remaining icing to decorate before serving? Or does the toffee sauce stays intact overnight too?
It looks fabulous. I can’t wait to try it! Will make it for my mum’s birthday as she loves sticky toffee pudding and we can never find it here! Thank you so much for the recipe!
Hi Anouchka, you can make the whole cake in advance and keep it in the fridge overnight or you can do the base icing and add the toffee sauce just before serving 🙂
The toffe sauce, is it boil for 15 or 5 minutes? It’s just a square on the page and I’m nearly at that point!
Hi Jenna, it’s 5 minutes 🙂