Nigella Lawson Sticky Toffee Pudding

Nigella Lawson’s sticky toffee pudding is a deep, dark date sponge glazed and served with a rich muscovado toffee sauce. It makes 9 generous slabs, from her book At My Table.

She calls it the glory of a sticky toffee pudding, and says her version is deeper and darker than the original: still sweet, but with muscovado sugar and black treacle giving it an almost savage intensity. Unusually, there’s no spice in it at all.

Her firm instruction is to eat it warm, not piping hot. Once the sponge is glazed with some of the sauce, you leave it for 30 minutes (up to an hour) before serving, which lets it settle into its proper sticky, toffee-ish self.

Nigella Lawson Sticky Toffee Pudding

Recipe by Pinch Perfect

5.0 from 1 vote

Course: DessertCuisine: BritishDifficulty: Easy

Servings

9

servings

Prep time

20

minutes

Cooking time

30

minutes

Calories

580

kcal

Total time

1

hour 

25

minutes

Nigella’s deep, dark STP from At My Table: a date sponge rich with muscovado and black treacle, glazed and served with a generous muscovado toffee sauce. Makes 9 generous slabs.

Ingredients

• For the sponge:

• 200g soft dried pitted dates (roughly chopped)

• 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

• 75g soft unsalted butter (plus more for greasing)

• 2 x 15ml tablespoons black treacle

• 50g dark muscovado sugar

• 2 large eggs (at room temperature)

• 150g plain flour

• 2 teaspoons baking powder

• For the sauce:

• 150g soft unsalted butter

• 300g dark muscovado sugar

• 1 x 15ml tablespoon black treacle

• 200ml double cream (plus more to serve)

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Directions

• Soak the dates:Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/350°F and grease a 23cm square baking dish. Put the chopped dates, 200ml boiling water and the bicarbonate of soda in a bowl, stir, and leave for 10 minutes.
• Make the batter:Cream the butter and black treacle until well mixed, then add the sugar and mix, beating out any lumps. Beat in one egg until fully incorporated, scraping down, then the other. Beating more gently, add the flour and baking powder to a smooth, thick batter.
• Add the dates:Stir and squish the soaked dates with a fork, then pour the dates and their liquid into the batter and beat gently to mix in.
• Bake:Pour into the dish and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until a tester comes out clean.
• Make the sauce:Meanwhile, melt the butter, muscovado sugar and treacle over very low heat in a heavy pan. Once melted, stir in the cream, then turn up the heat until bubbling and hot, and take off the heat.
• Glaze:As soon as the sponge is out, prick it all over with a cocktail stick and pour about a quarter of the warm sauce over, easing it to the edges so the top is a thick sticky glaze. Lid the remaining sauce to keep it warm.
• Rest and serve:Leave for 20 to 30 minutes (up to an hour), then take to the table with the rest of the sauce in a jug and cream to serve.

Notes

• (serve it warm, not hot): Nigella is clear it shouldn’t be eaten piping hot, but warm, after resting 30 minutes or so, which is when it’s at its best.
• (measuring treacle): Dip the spoon in boiling water, or run it under the hot tap first, and the black treacle slides off far more easily.
• (serve with salted caramel ice cream): Nigella positively urges serving this with her no-churn salted caramel ice cream; the combination is truly joyous. (For Christmas, she suggests the brandified version.)
• (make ahead / store): Refrigerate leftovers as soon as possible, tightly covered, for up to 5 days, storing the sponge and extra sauce separately. Reheat the sauce gently in a saucepan; reheat the sponge on low power in a microwave for 1 to 2 minutes. Cold, a slab tastes like magnificent sticky gingerbread.
• Resting: 20 to 30 minutes (up to 1 hour)

FAQs

What makes Nigella’s version so dark and intense?

It’s the sugar and the treacle. Where many sticky toffee puddings use lighter brown sugar, Nigella uses dark muscovado sugar and black treacle in both the sponge and the sauce, which give it a deep, almost bittersweet, molasses-rich flavour she calls “an almost savage intensity”. It’s still sweet, but far more complex and grown-up than the average STP.

Interestingly, there’s no spice at all, no cinnamon or ginger, so all that depth comes purely from the treacle, muscovado and dates. The result is darker in both colour and flavour than the original Lake District version. If you only have light muscovado, it’ll work but won’t have the same brooding depth.

Why soak the dates in bicarbonate of soda?

The dates are what make it a sticky toffee pudding rather than a plain sponge, giving moisture, natural caramel sweetness and that characteristic fudgy texture. Soaking them in boiling water softens them so they break down into the batter, and the bicarbonate of soda helps break them down further into a soft pulp.

Use soft, moist dried pitted dates, not hard ones, which won’t soften properly. Squish them with a fork after soaking, then add them with all their soaking liquid, as that flavourful liquid goes into the batter too. Don’t skip the 10-minute soak, as it’s what gives the sponge its lovely moist, date-flecked crumb.

Why glaze the sponge with sauce and then rest it?

Pricking the hot sponge all over and pouring a quarter of the warm sauce over lets it soak down into the holes, so the pudding becomes sticky and toffee-saturated right through, not just sauced on top. Easing it to the edges gives an even, glossy, sticky glaze across the whole surface.

Then the resting, 20 to 30 minutes, up to an hour, is important: it lets the glaze soak in and the pudding settle to the perfect warm (not piping hot) eating temperature Nigella insists on. Piping hot, it’s too loose and the flavours too raw; warm, it’s at its sticky, mellow best. Keep the rest of the sauce warm to pour at the table.

What should I serve it with?

Nigella doesn’t just suggest but positively urges serving it with her no-churn salted caramel ice cream, saying the combination is truly joyous, and recommends a brandified version for Christmas. The cold, salty-sweet ice cream against the warm, dark, sticky pudding is the dream pairing.

Otherwise, plenty of cold pouring double cream (she serves extra cream alongside), vanilla ice cream or proper custard all work beautifully, their coolness cutting the richness. Always offer the extra warm toffee sauce in a jug for people to drown their own portion. It’s the ultimate cosy pudding, in the same indulgent league as her butterscotch pots.

Can I make individual puddings or a different dish?

Yes, it’s adaptable. This recipe makes one big 23cm square traybake cut into 9 slabs, which is easy and generous, but you can bake the batter in individual pudding basins or a muffin tin for separate portions, reducing the baking time and checking earlier with a tester.

Keep the sauce quantity the same, as you want plenty for glazing and serving. A deep cake tin or ovenproof dish of similar size works too. Whatever you use, grease it well and prick and glaze while hot. It’s a more rustic, shareable pudding than a plated restaurant one, which is part of its charm.

Can I make it ahead, store or freeze it?

It keeps very well, which makes it great for entertaining. Refrigerate leftovers as soon as possible, tightly covered, for up to 5 days, storing the sponge and extra sauce separately. Reheat the sauce gently in a pan, and warm the sponge on low power in the microwave for 1 to 2 minutes.

Delightfully, Nigella says a cold slab cut from the dish tastes like the most magnificent sticky gingerbread, so leftovers are a treat in their own right. The sponge and sauce can both be made ahead and reheated to assemble. There are more Nigella puddings on the Nigella Lawson recipes page.