Sticky Toffee Pudding Bundt Cake Recipe

Sticky toffee pudding, a favorite treat of Princess Kate, is nothing like the American concept of pudding. It's not a creamy custardy concoction but is instead more cake-like. In Britain, "pudding" is a general term for any dessert, and you'll find a subsection of steamed puddings, such as Christmas pudding, summer pudding, or spotted dick, which tend to be dense moist cakes served with sauces. Traditional sticky toffee pudding was steamed, but increasingly, for ease of preparation, it is now baked. Developer Jessica Morone provides a baked version, and explains, "This cake itself isn't sticky, the toffee sauce is." The cake, which contains naturally sweet dates, actually has only a ½ cup of sugar in it, making it mildly sweet but very flavorful

Morone's recipe is slightly different than the traditional British version. For one thing, the pudding is typically baked in single-serving cups, but here she's using an all-American bundt pan (this product was invented in Minnesota). Another difference is that in the U.K., people usually cook the pudding in the sauce, but here it's poured over the cooled cake or served on the side. The result is a showstopper of a dessert with all of the deep tender flavor and texture of the original cake, a delicious and foolproof toffee sauce, and the attractive form of a bundt cake.

To make the cake, you'll need flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, butter, eggs, vanilla, and dates. Additional ingredients for the sauce include brown sugar, heavy cream, and rum.

Preheat your oven to 350 F.

Generously grease a 10-12 cup bundt pan with nonstick cooking spray.

In a saucepan mix together the pitted dates, water, and baking soda and bring to a boil on medium heat.

Remove the pan from the heat and gently mash the dates with a fork or a masher.

Set aside the date mixture in the pan to cool completely and thicken while you continue with the cake.

In the bowl of a stand mixture, cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy.

Add the eggs and vanilla extract to the bowl and beat until combined and smooth.

In a separate bowl whisk together the flour and baking powder.

Add about half the flour mixture and half the cooled date mixture to the bowl of the stand mixer and beat until combined. Repeat with the rest of the flour and dates.

Spread the cake batter into the prepared Bundt pan.

Bake for 45-50 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. If the edges are cooking too quickly you can cover the cake with foil halfway through baking.

Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then invert onto a cooling rack to cool while you make the sauce.

In a medium saucepan, combine the brown sugar and butter.

Bring to a boil over medium heat and cook until the brown sugar has dissolved (about 3 minutes).

Reduce the heat, then stir in the cream and rum and simmer on low for 5 minutes.

Remove the pan from heat and stir in the vanilla and salt. Let cool (it will thicken as it cools).

Pour the toffee sauce over the whole Bundt cake or individual slices as desired and enjoy!

Making the toffee sauce may be the simplest part of the recipe since it takes just a few minutes and only requires six ingredients. Nonetheless, you need to take a few precautions to make sure the sauce turns out just right. For starters, keep the heat on medium-low and watch to make sure the sugar doesn't burn. You can stir the liquid occasionally to keep it from sticking to the bottom but don't over-stir since leaving the sauce alone allows its flavor to deepen.

When you mix in the cream, make sure it's at room temperature since adding cold liquid may cause the sauce to seize up. Once the sauce is done cooking, you can refrigerate it for a few minutes to speed up the thickening process. Don't leave it in the fridge too long, though, because it needs to be warm when it's poured on the cake. You can, however, prepare the sauce up to three days in advance and reheat it in a microwave or on the stovetop before serving.

If you don't have a bundt pan, you can always bake this cake in cupcake form to more closely resemble a traditional sticky toffee pudding — you could even use a mini bundt pan to retain the pretty shape. Cupcakes will cook more quickly than a bundt cake, though, since they'll be done in just 18 to 23 minutes. Other options include using a pair of 8 or 9-inch round pans (25 to 35 minutes), a 13 x 9-inch sheet cake pan (30 to 35 minutes), or a 10-inch loaf pan (25 to 40 minutes).

You could also add some extra flavor to the cake with the addition of warm spices: Allspice, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg, or a pumpkin pie spice blend would complement the dates in the cake and go well with the toffee sauce. Finally, you can supplement the toffee sauce with a creamy cake topper. Whipped cream or vanilla ice cream would both be delicious, and you could even use a custard sauce. Not only is custard a traditional option for topping sticky toffee pudding, but it would also add an American pudding-adjacent element to the dessert.