Sticky toffee pudding, also known as sticky date pudding in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, is a British

dessert Dessert is a course (food), course that concludes a meal. The course consists of sweet foods, such as confections, and possibly a beverage such as dessert wine and liqueur. In some parts of the world, such as much of Greece and West Africa, and ...

consisting of a moist

sponge cake Sponge cake is a light cake made with egg whites, flour and sugar, sometimes leavened with baking powder. Some sponge cakes do not contain egg yolks, like angel food cake, but most of them do. Sponge cakes, leavened with beaten eggs, originated ...

, made with finely chopped

dates Date or dates may refer to: *Date (fruit), the fruit of the date palm (''Phoenix dactylifera'') Social activity *Dating, a form of courtship involving social activity, with the aim of assessing a potential partner **Group dating *Play date, an ...

(optional), covered in a

toffee Toffee is a confection made by caramelizing sugar or molasses (creating inverted sugar) along with butter, and occasionally flour. The mixture is heated until its temperature reaches the hard crack stage of . While being prepared, toffee is ...

sauce In cooking, a sauce is a liquid, cream, or semi-solid food, served on or used in preparing other foods. Most sauces are not normally consumed by themselves; they add flavor, moisture, and visual appeal to a dish. ''Sauce'' is a French word t ...

and often served with a vanilla

custard Custard is a variety of culinary preparations based on sweetened milk, cheese, or cream cooked with egg or egg yolk to thicken it, and sometimes also flour, corn starch, or gelatin. Depending on the recipe, custard may vary in consistency fro ...

or vanilla

ice-cream Ice cream is a sweetened frozen food typically eaten as a snack or dessert. It may be made from milk or cream and is flavoured with a sweetener, either sugar or an alternative, and a spice, such as cocoa or vanilla, or with fruit such as str ...

. It is considered a British classic by various culinary experts.

Composition

A sticky toffee pudding has two essential components. The first is a moist

, containing finely chopped

date Date or dates may refer to: *Date (fruit), the fruit of the date palm (''Phoenix dactylifera'') Social activity *Dating, a form of courtship involving social activity, with the aim of assessing a potential partner ** Group dating *Play date, a ...

s. The sponge is usually light and fluffy, closer to a

muffin A muffin is an individually portioned baked product, however the term can refer to one of two distinct items: a part-raised flatbread (like a crumpet) that is baked and then cooked on a griddle (typically unsweetened), or an (often sweetened) ...

consistency rather than a heavier traditional British sponge, and is often lightly flavoured with nuts or spices such as

cloves Cloves are the aromatic flower buds of a tree in the family Myrtaceae, ''Syzygium aromaticum'' (). They are native to the Maluku Islands (or Moluccas) in Indonesia, and are commonly used as a spice, flavoring or fragrance in consumer products, s ...

. The date component is, however, optional. The second key element is the toffee sauce, usually made from double cream and then different dark sugars, depending on recipe. A sticky toffee pudding is most commonly served with

vanilla ice cream Vanilla is frequently used to flavor ice cream, especially in North America, Asia, and Europe. Vanilla ice cream, like other flavors of ice cream, was originally created by cooling a mixture made of cream, sugar, and vanilla above a container of ...

, the vanilla flavour of these complimenting the richer flavours of the pudding. It may also be served with

single cream Cream is a dairy product composed of the higher-fat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, the fat, which is less dense, eventually rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream, this process ...

Origins

The origins of sticky toffee pudding are disputed. Owners of several pubs, including the Gait Inn in

Millington, East Riding of Yorkshire Millington is a small village and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is situated approximately north-east of Pocklington. The civil parish is formed by the village of Millington and the hamlets of Great Givendale and ...

(claimed to 1907) and the Udny Arms Hotel in

Newburgh, Aberdeenshire Newburgh is a coastal village in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The village dates to 1261 AD, when Lord Sinclair wanted to establish a chapel in the area. Originally built as a school, somewhat later the chapel of Holy Rood was established. Geograp ...

(1960s), claim to have invented it. The pudding was popularised in the 1970s by Francis Coulson and Robert Lee, who developed and served it at the

Sharrow Bay Country House Sharrow Bay Country House was a hotel and restaurant located on the eastern shore of Ullswater near Pooley Bridge, Cumbria, England. The hotel is associated with the creation of the sticky toffee pudding.

Hotel in

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumb ...

The food critic

Simon Hopkinson Simon Charles Hopkinson (born 5 June 1954) is an English food writer, critic and former chef. He published his first cookbook, ''Roast Chicken and Other Stories'', in 1994. Early life Hopkinson was born in Greenmount, Bury, in 1954, the son of ...

said Coulson told him he received the recipe from a Patricia Martin of Claughton in

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

, and that Martin had received this from Canadian air force officers who lodged at her hotel during the Second World War.

References

External links

Rock Recipes Perfect English Sticky Toffee Pudding Recipe

A Tasty Sticky Toffee Pudding Recipe to Make at Home
{{Portal, Food British desserts British puddings English cuisine English inventions Australian desserts New Zealand desserts Steamed foods