Classic Sticky Toffee Pudding

Classic Sticky Toffee Pudding

Gut-healthy sticky toffee pudding sounds like a contradiction, but this one genuinely earns the title. The secret is the dates, 170g of them, which are one of the richest natural sources of prebiotic fibre you can bake with. They break down into a deep, almost caramel-dark sponge that soaks up a maple toffee sauce you'll want to pour on everything. Warm spices, oat milk, and plant-based butter round it all out into something that feels properly indulgent. Make it tonight and nobody at the table will be asking questions.

Cook: 55 min
Serves 4

Before You Start

  • Preheat oven to 180°C
  • Baking dish greased
  • Saucepan
  • Spatula
  • Skewer
  • Small jug

Ingredients

  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp ground ginger
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tbsp maple syrup
  • 3 tbsp oat cream
  • 170g pitted dates
  • 350ml oat milk
  • 1 ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • 215g plant-based butter
  • 100g dark brown soft sugar
  • 180g white self-raising flour
  • ½ tsp nutmeg
  • 100g light brown sugar

Method

1

First, make the Pudding

  • Finely slice the dates
  • Put them in the saucepan with the oat milk, vanilla extract and stir until the dates are soft, approx 10-12 minutes
  • Take the pan off the heat and stir in the bicarbonate of soda
  • Let the contents of the pan cool to room temperature
  • Add 115g of the dairy-free butter and 100g light brown sugar to the pan and fold to combine
  • Add the flour, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and stir them through a few times with a spoon until combined, but not overmixed
  • Pour the mixture into the baking dish and smooth out the top with a spatula
  • Put the dish in the oven and bake the pudding for 35–40 minutes, until risen and a skewer inserted into the centre of the sponge comes out clean
2

Now, make the Sticky Toffee Sauce

  • Clean the saucepan and put it back on a medium heat
  • Add the maple syrup, dark brown sugar and the remaining 100g dairy-free butter into the pan, stir and reduce the heat to low
  • Cook for 5 minutes until you have a syrup
  • Remove the pan from the hob, allow it to cool slightly and then stir in the oat cream
  • Pour into a small jug
3

Time to serve!

  • Cut the sticky toffee pudding into slices
  • Plate up a slice, pour over a little sticky toffee sauce, a scoop of ice cream and serve immediately

Tips & Variations

  • Soak the dates properly: Pour hot oat milk over the dates and let them sit for at least 10 minutes before blending. The softer they are, the smoother and stickier your sponge will be.
  • Don't skip the spices: The ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg aren't just background noise. They're what makes this taste like a hug rather than just a sweet pudding.
  • Rest before serving: Give the pudding 5 minutes out of the oven before you turn it out. It firms up just enough to hold together when you slice it.

Why This Works

Bicarbonate of soda is the move here. It reacts with the soaked dates and softens them so completely that they almost dissolve into the batter, giving you that dense, sticky crumb without any strange texture. The dark and light brown sugars together give real depth, more like treacle than straight sweetness, which is exactly what a proper sticky toffee pudding needs.