recipe · 23 July 2026
Sticky Date Pudding
A warm, soft date pudding with a shameless amount of buttery caramel sauce. Best served with vanilla ice cream and very little restraint.
I made this for one of those dinners where everyone says they’re too full for dessert—then somehow every bowl comes back clean. The pudding is soft and cosy, the sauce is wonderfully excessive, and leftovers make an excellent breakfast if nobody is watching.
prep
30 min
cook
40 min
serves
5
season
Winter
Ingredients
- For the pudding:
- 200 g pitted dates, chopped
- 250 ml boiling water
- 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
- 75 g softened butter
- 150 g brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 180 g self-raising flour
- For the sauce:
- 150 g brown sugar
- 150 ml thickened cream
- 75 g butter
- Pinch of salt
Method
- 1Heat the oven to 180°C, or 160°C fan-forced. Grease a small baking dish.
- 2Cover the dates with boiling water, stir in the bicarbonate of soda and leave for 10 minutes.
- 3Beat the butter and sugar until creamy, then mix in the eggs. Fold in the flour and soaked dates.
- 4Pour into the dish and bake for 30–35 minutes, until soft and springy.
- 5Simmer all the sauce ingredients together for 3 minutes. Pour generously over the warm pudding and serve with ice cream.
