Sticky toffee pudding is  a not too sweet date cake with a very sweet and sticky toffee sauce.  It is a classic British desert and is one of the reasons that I love English food.  Thats right, I love English food.  I like puddings and trifles and shepherd’s pie and sausage roles and bangers and mash and strong tea.  The first sticky toffee pudding recipe below is from The Tea and Sympathy Cookbook, an excellent cookbook from an excellent British cafe of the same name.  If you have never had really good English food you should go have a meal at this restaurant….or make this sticky toffee pudding for yourself.   The second sticky toffee pudding recipe is my gluten-free version with the addition of candied orange peel (Chris’ suggestion).

Both recipes requires Lyle’s Golden Syrup, which is imported from Britain and may take some effort to find.  The packaging for Lyle’s Golden Syrup has not changed since 1883 (making it the world’s oldest brand according to the Guinness Book of World Records).  It comes in a little green tin.  The tin pictures the body of a dead lion swarmed by bees and underneath it says “Out of the strong came forth sweetness”.  It is from a bible story about Sampson killing a lion and noticing that bees had built a hive in the lion’s carcass.  Lyle’s golden syrup is made from a by-product of sugar processing called treacle and it is silky, sweet and wonderful.

STICKY TOFFEE PUDDING (from Tea and Sympathy)

• 1 cup chopped dates
• 1 and 1/4 cups water
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons strong brewed espresso
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 cup butter
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 and 1/2 cups all-purpose baking flour
• 2 cups heavy creme
• 1/4 cup Lyles golden syrup
• 1 cup dark brown sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine the dates and water in a small sauce pan.  Bring to a boil and then simmer for 10 minutes.
3. Remove the dates from the heat and add the vanilla, espresso and baking powder.
4. Cream the butter and sugar together until it is light and fluffy.
5. Incorporate the eggs into the butter and sugar one at a time.
6. Sift the flour and baking powder together and fold them into the butter, sugar an egg mixture.
7. Gently stir in the cooled date mixture.
8. Generously butter a bundt pan and dust it with bread crumbs.  Tap the pan lightly to shake the excess crumbs off.
9. Pour the Batter in to the prepared bundt pan and bake 35-40 minutes.
10. When the cake is done, let it rest for ten minutes before inverting it onto a plate.  While your waiting, make the sticky make the sticky toffee sauce by combining the heavy creme, Lyle’s golden syrup and brown sugar in a heavy bottomed sauce pan.  Bring to a boil and stir for 10 minutes.
11. Invert the cake onto a large plate and pour the sticky toffee sauce over it.  Serve hot.

ERIN’S GLUTEN-FREE STICKY TOFFEE PUDDING

• 1 cup chopped dates
• 1 and 1/4 cups water
• 2 Tablespoons vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons strong brewed espresso
• 1 cup garbanzo-fava bean flour
• 3/4  cup sugar
• 1/2 cup potato starch
• 1/4 cup arrowroot
• 2 and 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
• 2 Tablespoons finely grated orange zest or finely chopped candied orange peel
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup mild oil
• 1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1 and 1/4 cup hot water
• 2 cups heavy creme
• 1/4 cup Lyles golden syrup
• 1 cup dark brown sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
2. Combine the dates and 1 and 1/4 cups water in a small sauce pan.  Bring to a boil and then simmer for 10 minutes.
3. Remove the dates from the heat and add the vanilla and espresso.
4. In a medium bowl, combine the garbazo-fava bean flour, sugar, potato starch, arrowroot starch, baking powder, baking soda, xanthan gum, orange peel and salt.
5. Add the oil, applesauce and 1 and 1/4 cups hot water to the dry ingredients and stir to combine.
6. Fold in the date mixture.
7. Butter 12 muffin tins and lightly dust with garbanzo-fava bean flour.
8. Pour the batter in to the muffin tins.
9. Bake for 40 minutes.
10. Allow the cakes to cool for 10-20 minutes before turning them out of the muffin tins.While your waiting, make the sticky make the sticky toffee sauce by combining the heavy creme, Lyle’s golden syrup and brown sugar in a heavy bottomed sauce pan.  Bring to a boil and stir for 10 minutes.
11. Turn the cakes out of their tins and plate them individually.  Pour the sticky toffee sauce over them.  Serve hot.

This recipe usually doesn’t use all of the sticky toffee sauce.  The sauce keeps well in the fridge for a few weeks and is  great over for ice cream or baked apples or stirred into a batch of gluten-free double the butter chocolate chip cookies.

Gluten-Free Sticky Boozy Chocolate Plum Pudding https://bigsislittledish.wordpress.com/2013/12/24/sticky-boozy-chocolate-plum-pudding-cake-gluten-free-or-not/

Gluten-Free Butter Tarts https://bigsislittledish.wordpress.com/2011/12/25/gluten-free-butter-tarts-for-boxing-day/

Gluten-Free Chocolate Pear Pudding Cake https://bigsislittledish.wordpress.com/2012/12/26/chocolate-pear-pudding-cake-gluten-free-or-not/

Gluten-Free Caramelized Rhubarb Clafouti https://bigsislittledish.wordpress.com/2012/05/29/slackers-caramelized-rhubarb-clafouti-gluten-free-or-not/

Seville Orange Marmalade with Whiskey and Brown Sugar https://bigsislittledish.wordpress.com/2013/01/05/seville-orange-marmalade-with-whiskey-and-brown-sugar/

Bitter Seville Orange Marmalade https://bigsislittledish.wordpress.com/2012/02/23/the-right-kind-of-marmalade-made-with-bitter-seville-oranges/