Vegan sticky toffee pudding - this vegan version of the classic British dessert is rich and sticky with a deep flavour. It is incredibly easy to make too! It is perfect served as a cold weather pudding, with custard or ice cream. Eggless and dairy free.
Sticky toffee pudding has to be one of the ultimate comforting winter desserts. There is nothing more satisfying on a cold day than tucking in to a slab of soft pudding drenched in sticky toffee sauce and custard (or ice cream if you are that way inclined).
This vegan version is easy to make and tastes just as good as the original. A soft, deep caramel flavoured date sponge cake generously smothered with luscious toffee sauce; heaven!
I adapted and veganised Nigella's recipe, which she describes as "altogether deeper and darker than the original version". This is still a sweet pudding, but the dark muscovado sugar and treacle give it more depth of flavour, and make it less cloyingly sweet than some versions.
What Do I Need To Make Vegan Sticky Toffee Pudding:
My recipe doesn't use any weird egg replacers or ingredients that you wouldn't usually find in a sticky toffee pudding, it is mostly just basic storecupboard ingredients.
For The Pudding:
Dates: chopped dates soaked in boiling water and then blended form the base of the pudding, adding sweetness and caramel flavour and keeping the texture moist and soft. There is no need to use fancy dates such as medjool, just regular dried dates work best.
Treacle: dark, sticky treacle adds intense flavour. You can use molasses if you can't get hold of treacle, and if you prefer a lighter pudding you can use golden syrup instead.
Dark muscovado or dark brown soft sugar: muscovado sugar is best for it's deep toffee flavour though dark brown soft will work just as well. Light brown will work in a pinch but dark is best.
Oil: any neutral flavoured oil will do; I use sunflower.
Milk: you can use any kind of unsweetened non-dairy milk you prefer but I always like soy milk best for baking as it has the highest protein content.
Plain flour: just regular plain (all-purpose) flour is best here.
Baking powder and bicarbonate of soda: baking powder provides the rise and the bicarb is mixed with the dates while they soak which helps to soften them.
Ground ginger: sticky toffee pudding doesn't traditionally have any spices added to it, but I do like to add a little bit of ginger to mine. You can omit it for a more traditional pudding, or if you want to go spicier you can add some cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves as well.
For The Sticky Toffee Sauce:
Cream: you will need some form of non-dairy cream, whether that be soy or coconut based. My absolute favourite however is my home-made cashew cream which works amazingly well and gives the sauce a wonderful rich flavour.
Butter: any vegan butter/margarine that you like the flavour of should work but I favour Naturli Vegan Block.
Light brown soft sugar: unlike in the actual pudding, I like the flavour of light brown soft sugar in the toffee sauce best. If you only have dark brown sugar then I suggest omitting the treacle from the sauce to avoid it becoming too intensely flavoured (though if that is your kind of thing then by all means leave it in).
Treacle: treacle adds a rich, deep flavour. You can use molasses again here if you don't have treacle, or golden syrup for a lighter, sweeter sauce.
Vanilla extract: this is optional but I like the flavour. You can also add a splash of rum, whisky or brandy to the sauce for a grown-up, boozy kick.
How To Make Vegan Sticky Toffee Pudding:
(For ingredients and full instructions see the recipe card below)
Place the chopped dates and bicarbonate of soda in a large jug and stir in 200ml of boiling water. Set aside to soak for 10 minutes so that the dates are nice and soft.
Add dark muscovado sugar, treacle, milk and oil to the date mixture (don't drain off the water!).
Use a stick blender to blitz it until it is fairly smooth. It doesn't need to be 100% smooth, you just don't want there to be any chunks of date left. Alternatively, you can transfer the lot to a blender to blend it if you don't have a stick one.
In a separate large bowl, sift together the plain flour, baking powder, ginger and a pinch of salt.
Add the blended date mixture to the dry ingredients and stir to form a smooth batter; don't over-beat it, just stir until no dry lumps remain.
Transfer the batter to a greased baking dish, about 23cm (9in) square (mine is about 20.5 x 24.5cm).
Bake for 20-30 minutes until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
Sticky Toffee Sauce:
Make the sauce while the pudding is baking. Place the light brown soft sugar, treacle and vegan butter in a saucepan over a low heat. Stir until it is melted and smooth.
Add the cream and vanilla extract, stir until smooth, bring up to a simmer then remove the pan from the heat.
Allow the pudding to cool in the dish for 10 minutes then prick the surface all over with a toothpick and drizzle over ½ to ⅔rds of the toffee sauce, making sure that the top of the pudding is fully covered.
Leave to cool for 20 minutes then serve with ice cream or custard and the rest of the sticky toffee sauce. (The sauce will thicken as it cools, simply reheat it in a pan or in the microwave for a few seconds until it becomes pourable again).
Top Tips:
For the best results make sure that you follow the recipe closely. As always, I highly recommend weighing your ingredients using the gram measurements (with a digital scale), rather than the cup conversions. Cup measurements are simply not accurate enough for baking and I cannot guarantee the best results if you use them.
I recommend using my home-made cashew cream for the sticky toffee sauce but it also works well with soy cream, Elmlea Plant double cream or coconut cream.
You will find it easier to measure out the treacle if you either grease the spoon, or dip it in boiling water first.
The pudding should be served warm, not piping hot, so let it cool for 20 minutes or more before serving; even up to an hour is fine.
Serve the vegan sticky toffee pudding with vanilla ice cream or custard.
How To Store Vegan Sticky Toffee Pudding:
This vegan sticky toffee pudding is best eaten freshly baked but any leftovers will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Reheat slices in the microwave for about 30 seconds before serving.
Leftovers can also be frozen in a freezer-proof container for up to three months. Allow to defrost at room temperature then warm through in the microwave to serve.
More Vegan Dessert And Pudding Recipes:
Vegan steamed maple syrup pudding
Vegan lemon blueberry cheesecake
Chocolate raspberry skillet cookie for two
Vegan steamed chocolate pudding
If you tried this recipe let me know how it went! Rate it, leave a comment or tag @domestic_gothess on Instagram and hashtag it #domesticgothess
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Vegan Sticky Toffee Pudding
Ingredients
Pudding:
- 200 g (7 oz) chopped dried pitted dates
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
- 200 ml (¾ cup + 1 Tbsp) boiling water
- 80 ml (⅓ cup) neutral oil (I use sunflower)
- 60 ml (¼ cup) unsweetened non-dairy milk (I use soy)
- 60 g (⅓ cup) dark muscovado or dark brown soft sugar
- 50 g (2 Tbsp) treacle (or molasses)
- 150 g (1 ¼ cups) plain (all-purpose) flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- pinch salt
Toffee Sauce:
- 120 g (½ cup) vegan butter/margarine (I use Naturli Vegan Block) diced
- 120 g (⅔ cup) light brown soft sugar
- 25 g (1 Tbsp) treacle (or molasses)
- 150 ml (½ cup + 2 Tbsp) non-dairy cream (home-made cashew cream, soy cream, Elmlea plant double or coconut cream)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/350°F/gas mark 4. Grease an approx 20-23cm / 8-9in square baking dish (mine is about 20.5 x 24.5cm).
- Place the chopped dates and bicarbonate of soda in a large jug and stir in the 200ml of boiling water. Set aside to soak for 10 minutes so that the dates are nice and soft.
- Add the oil, milk, dark muscovado sugar and treacle to the date mixture (don’t drain off the soaking liquid!).
- Use a stick blender to blitz it until it is fairly smooth. It doesn’t need to be 100% smooth, you just don’t want there to be any chunks of date left. Alternatively, you can transfer the lot to a blender to blend it if you don’t have a stick one.
- In a separate large bowl, sift together the plain flour, baking powder, ginger and a pinch of salt.
- Add the blended date mixture to the dry ingredients and stir to form a smooth batter; don’t over-beat it, just stir until no dry lumps remain.
- Transfer the batter to the greased baking dish, spread it level and bake for 20-30 minutes until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
- Make the sauce while the pudding is baking. Place the butter, light brown soft sugar and treacle in a saucepan over a low heat. Stir until it is melted and smooth.
- Add the cream and vanilla extract, stir until smooth, bring up to a simmer then remove the pan from the heat. You can add a pinch of salt if you feel it needs it.
- Allow the pudding to cool in the dish for 10 minutes then prick the surface all over with a toothpick and drizzle over ½ to ⅔rds of the toffee sauce, making sure that the top of the pudding is fully covered.
- Leave to cool for 20 minutes then serve with ice cream or custard and the rest of the sticky toffee sauce. (The sauce will thicken as it cools, simply reheat it in a pan or in the microwave for a few seconds until it becomes pourable again).
Notes
- For the best results make sure that you follow the recipe closely. As always, I highly recommend weighing your ingredients using the gram measurements (with a digital scale), rather than the cup conversions. Cup measurements are simply not accurate enough for baking and I cannot guarantee the best results if you use them.
- You will find it easier to measure out the treacle if you either grease the spoon, or dip it in boiling water first.
- This vegan sticky toffee pudding is best eaten freshly baked but any leftovers will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Michelle
This recipe is perfect! Quick and simple. My non-vegan family loved it and couldn’t tell the difference! Thank you so much!
Katie
I totally agree, this recipe was perfect in every way and loved by all! I have made it twice in the last 5 days!
Albertina
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Julie Cochran
Isn't a tbsp 15mls?
I see you need 50mls of treacle for cake which is listed as 2 tbsp but I'm wondering if this is enough
Hannah
Hi Julie, yes a tablespoon is 15ml but it is 50 grams of treacle, not ml. Weight doesn't always correlate to volume. 2 tbsp of treacle works out to about 50 grams but I really recommend weighing it out rather than using tablespoons as it is more accurate.
Chloe
This is amaaazinggg - literally melt-in-the-mouth delicious. Thank you so much for the recipe, I will be using again for sure! 🙂
Maria
Hi,
If I wanted to make this cake the day before, should I not drizzle half the sauce over straight after the cake is cooked. Do I pour half the sauce on at the moment of serving? Thanks, can't wait to make this cake.
Hannah
Hi Maria, If you are going to re-heat the sticky toffee pudding before serving it then I would wait to add the sauce until you serve it. It will still be good if you pour over the sauce after baking it though, just a bit more sticky.
Ruth
The best sticky toffee pudding I have had since becoming vegan!
Amanda
Can I freeze these puddings?
Michelle Chin
Perfect recipe, easy and delicious!! Thanks so much!!
Eve Bull
Made this for my vegan friends and it tasted exactly the same as normal! The sticky toffee sauce wasn't quite thick enough but I suspect that's because I had to use a vegan spread rather than the naturli block ( due to nut allergy ) - but will 100% make again
Katy
Amazing recipe. Went down a storm with all the family! I didn't have muscovado dark sugar, so just used light for everything. Also used single Alpro cream for the sauce and it was perfect 🙂
Christine
Would like to bake in single serve ramekins. Thoughts on bake time?
Hannah
Hi Christine, I haven't tried making this in ramekins so I can't say for sure but I reckon about 20 minutes.
Priya
How deep should the square tin be? Thank you
Hannah
Hi Priya, about 5cm.
jawa
Really good! I used hot coffee instead of the boiling water to soften the dates and roasted peanut oil instead of the neutral oil (because that’s what I had). Very forgiving recipe!
Sophie
This recipe turned out so well thank you! The sauce was delicious. I'll be making this regularly x
Sheralyn Stuckey
Thank you I made this with gluten free flour and it was perfect.
Hayley Fleming
this was absolutely perfect it has a rich buttery texture and sweet enough but not too sweet, like how with a store bought sticky toffee pudding you’re left feeling a bit sickly, i didnt get that at all with this. i did use a regular cheap vegan margarine since i always use that for baking and figured it wouldn’t make too big of a difference however it made the sticky toffee sauce come out more runny than sticky so i will definitely use a vegan block butter next time and in any other caramel/toffee sauces i make in the future because i have had runny mishaps with it before. i didnt mind the texture of it at all it was just more of a soggy toffee pudding than a sticky toffee pudding but still devine and one of the tastiest things i’ve had in a while.
Nicki Waterfield
Hi Hannah
I want to make this to take as a pudding to my family who live two hours away on Boxing Day. Could I assemble all the mixed cake ingredients in the tin and put it in their oven once I arrive? Or, would it be better to bake at home take warm to their house and reheat a little in the oven, then pour over the sauce whilst we eat main course?
Hannah
Hi Nicki, definitely bake it in advance and then re-warm it. It needs to go in the oven as soon as the wet and dry ingredients are mixed together otherwise the raising agents may wear out.
Nora
Hi Hannah,
Thank you for the recipe, it is absolutely lovely! Amazingly rich flavours. The only problem I encountered was that the sauce separated and it was runny. I used Flora block and Oatly cream and I wonder whether it is because of oatly, perhaps it is less stable than soy-based creams? For thickening up I used cornflour so this did the trick.
Zoe Lee
I used oatly and it didn't seperate for me. Maybe yours was too cold when it went into the butter?
Zoe Lee
This is amazing!! Everyone in my family loved it! 10/10
YMW
Unbelievable recipe. Made it for the first time a few months and it was incredibly tasty. Thank you for your clear instructions and photographs. Very helpful.