Sticky date pudding usually means softening dates, creaming butter and a sink full of bowls. This one puts everything in the blender instead, so the dates, butter, sugar, eggs and flour all get sorted in the one jug and the batter pours straight into the tin.
The butterscotch sauce is the microwave kind, 4 minutes with a stir every minute, and a big pinch of salt at the end is what makes it taste like the restaurant version. Warm pudding, hot sauce, and nobody needs to know how little work it was.
Why You’ll Love It
The blender replaces the creaming, the chopping and most of the washing up, so the pudding part is genuinely a pour-and-bake job. The microwave butterscotch means no saucepan to watch and no caramel anxiety, and the salted finish takes it from sweet to properly good. It’s the dessert for winter Sundays and for feeding people you want to impress on a weeknight budget, since dates, brown sugar and cream don’t cost much.
Handy Tips
Give the dates their 5 minutes in the boiling water and bicarb before blending, since that soak is what makes them disappear smoothly into the batter. Don’t skip stirring the sauce every minute in the microwave, because that’s what keeps it smooth instead of split, and don’t be shy with the salt at the end, it’s what cuts through all that brown sugar. The pudding is done when the top is set and springs back to a light touch.
Make It Your Way
The mixed spice or garam masala is optional and worth trying at least once, since it adds a gentle warmth that suits the dates. Bake it in a smaller tin for a taller, softer pudding or go wider for more of the sticky top, and doubling the sauce is never a wrong decision if ice cream is involved.
How to Store It
Keep the pudding and sauce in separate airtight containers in the fridge and warm both gently before serving again. The sauce thickens as it cools, so a splash of cream when reheating brings it back to pouring consistency.
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Sticky Date Pudding
Prep Time 20 minutes 
Cook Time
1 hour 
Total Time 1 hour 20 minutes 
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- In your blender, mix dates, boiling water, and bicarbonate soda. Stir and let it chill for 5 mins.
- Drop in butter and sugar, and blend!
- Toss in flour, sugar, eggs (and a hint of your fave spice if you're feeling fancy).
- Blend till you get that perfect cake batter consistency.
- Pour your masterpiece into a lined cake tin and bake at 180C for a golden hour.
- In a microwave-safe bowl, toss in sugar, cream, and butter.
- Microwave magic: 4 minutes total, but remember to give it a stir every minute.
- Finally, sprinkle in that salt, mix, and voilà!
Nutrition
Video
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FAQs
Can I make sticky date pudding ahead of time?
Yes. Bake the pudding and make the sauce, keep them separately in the fridge, and warm both before serving. It’s a good dessert to have ready before people arrive.
Do I need to soak the dates first?
The 5 minute sit in boiling water with the bicarb is the soak, and it happens right in the blender jug. It softens the dates so they blend smooth, so don’t skip it.
Why did my butterscotch sauce split or go grainy?
It wasn’t stirred enough. The microwave heats unevenly, so stopping to stir every minute is what keeps the butter, sugar and cream together as one smooth sauce.
What do I serve with sticky date pudding?
Vanilla ice cream or a pour of cream against the warm pudding and hot sauce. That hot and cold contrast is the whole point.
No fuss recipe, and absolutely delicious!
Best sticky toffee pudding I’ve made, and super easy recipe – Thank you for sharing 😁
My pleasure Magi. Sounds like you’ll be making this again 🙂