Sticky toffee pudding is a moist sweet cake. Its made with dates, but no one seems to know. The dates are chopped so finely that you don’t notice them when you eat the cake. However, it’s the dates that make the cake sticky and give the cake its distinctive flavour – well, the dates and the sauce.
Sticky date pudding or “sticky toffee pudding” as it is known traditionally, is said to have been invented in the North-West of England at the Sharrow Bay Country House Hotel in 1960 and nowadays it’s a firm favourite on the menus of pubs and restaurants.
The secret to a good sticky date pudding is balancing the sweet dates in that moist spongey pudding with the salted caramel creaminess of the sauce.
Needless to say, sticky date with caramel sauce is my favourite pud and one I make regularly for those frosty winter nights. I wanted to put a twist and make Sticky toffee Cupcakes!
These cupcakes themselves are thick with rich brown sugar, sticky soaked dates and a sweet caramel buttercream icing.
The recipe would be perfect for any afternoon tea spread, I love to decorate with fudge pieces and even more sauce for extra indulgence!
I used dulce de leech in this recipe from he supermarket but dulce de leche is super easy to make at home from cans of condensed milk.
- 150g Dates pitted, finely chopped
- 1 tbspTreacle
- 115g Unsalted Butter
- 75g Light Brown Sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 Medium Eggs, beaten
- 115g Self-Raising Flour
- Bicarbonate of soda (1 tsp)
- 50g Fudge Chunks
- 125g Unsalted Butter softened
- 225g Icing Sugar (8 oz)
- 50g dulce de leche
- Preheat the oven to 190°C (170°C Fan, Gas Mark 5). Line a muffin tin with 12 Muffin Cases. Put the dates in a saucepan with 150ml (¼ pt) water. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer gently for about 5 minutes until soft. Remove from the heat, stir in the treacle and mix well. Leave to cool.
- In a mixing bowl, beat the butter with the sugar until creamy in texture. Stir in the cold date mixture and Vanilla Extract and whisk in the eggs.
- Sift the flour and Bicarbonate of Soda on top. Carefully mix all the ingredients together until well blended.
- Divide the mixture between the Muffin Cases and bake in the oven for 22-25 minutes until risen and just firm to the touch. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
- To decorate, place the butter in a bowl and beat until soft. Gradually sift and mix in the icing sugar to make a smooth, creamy icing. Mix in the Caramel Flavour.
- Using a split piping bag add the icing to one side and 4 tbsp of dulce de leche to the other half. Pipe a generous amount of icing on top of each cake using a swirl motion and top each with a few pieces of the remaining Fudge Pieces to serve.
2 Comments
Wow! These little treats look delicious!
Absolutely delicious, this recipe is going to be popular with my customers! Thank you 🙂