Sticky toffee pudding is a classic British dessert for Christmas-time. I personally make it every year for my family! The warm, melty, gooey cake with dark caramel sauce is so irresistible on cold winter days.
Normally this holiday dessert is made in a baking dish, similar to an American poke cake. A heaping spoon of soft, gooey cake, drizzled in toffee sauce, with a scoop of melting ice cream on top makes for a delicious, but messy portion.
Here, I use a muffin tin to make individual sticky toffee puddings. They come out a bit more upscale and fancier than the old traditional sticky toffee pudding you might be used to!
A cake for one with a little quenelle of vanilla ice cream on top, with some nice and gooey toffee sauce. They look just superb—and make the perfect addition to your Christmas dessert spread!
What is Sticky Toffee Pudding?
Americans expect this pudding to be a thick, creamy desert similar to a custard. “Pudding”, here, is taken to mean something similar to Jell-o pudding.
However, in the British vernacular, “pudding” refers generally to the sweet course at the end of a meal (dessert), or a specific type of dish – steamed or boiled puddings. These puddings can be sweet or savory. The sweet version are typically steamed sponge cakes soaked in sauce.
Sticky toffee pudding is a sponge cake made with pureed dates and brown sugar, soaked in warm toffee sauce. Toffee is a slightly darker version of caramel, with a higher concentration of brown sugar to cream.
The Best Sticky Toffee Pudding Muffins
What makes this the best single-serve sticky toffee pudding recipe? Well:
- Tried and tested recipe that’s super easy to make ??
- They look just amazing—an elegant version of a classic ??
- Wonderfully gooey centers using my secret technique (see below) ??
- Perfectly crispy, caramelized texture on the outside ??
- A creamy toffee sauce in under 10 minutes ??
- The beautiful festive recipe with plenty of tips so you can’t go wrong ??
Ingredients For Sticky Toffee Pudding
Here’s a quick overview of the ingredients I use in my individual sticky toffee pudding recipe. See the recipe card below for a full list of ingredients!
Jump to RecipeFor the Muffins
- Unsalted Butter: I prefer unsalted butter—it lets you control how much salt goes in, so you can get the flavor just right!
- Dark Brown Sugar: Use dark brown sugar instead of light brown sugar in this recipe. Trust me, it makes a difference.
- Medjool Dates: Chopped dates are the main source of sweetness with a deep, caramel-like flavor
- Large Eggs: Eggs are important because they help everything combine well and add richness. You can use a vegan alternative.
- Candied Orange Peel: This optional garnish adds a pop of color and just the right amount of variety to the taste. Find it in Middle-eastern grocery stores or use the cocktail version in a pinch. Just drain the syrup first if you do.
For the Toffee Sauce
- Unsalted Butter: For a nice and rich sauce with a premium feel.
- Dark-Brown Sugar: Provides that deep, molasses-like sweetness—perfect for a rich toffee flavor.
- Heavy Cream: Makes the sauce thick and creamy. Don’t settle for any lighter low-fat substitutes—it’s Christmas after all!
How to Make Single-Serve Sticky Toffee Puddings
Here’s how to make my easy dessert recipe. For a more thorough, step-by-step recipe, check the recipe card at the bottom of the page.
Jump to RecipeMaking the Sauce
Step 1: Combine Ingredients and Boil
Before you start the muffin batter, make the sauce.
Combine the butter and dark-brown sugar in a medium saucepan. Whisk until the butter is melted and the sugar is dissolved. Add the cream and whisk to combine.
Bring it all to a boil over medium-high heat, then turn down the heat to medium-low. Let it cook for about 4 minutes, stirring often, until it thickens and darkens slightly.
Step 2: Set Aside
Set the toffee sauce aside. We’ll use it later to get the perfect texture and gooey centers we promised!
We’ll also save some for serving at the end.
Making the Sticky Toffee Pudding Muffins
Step 1: Preheat Oven and Prepare Muffin Tin
Start by preheating your oven to 350°F (180°C).
You’ll then need to prepare your muffin tin so nothing sticks later. Butter and flour it, or use a non-stick baking spray—you might find my pan prep post helpful.
Step 2: Soak Dates in Boiling Water
Roughly chop the dates (make sure they are pitted!) and put them in a small bowl. Pour boiling water over them, and let them soak for about 10 minutes.
Step 3: Mix Dry Ingredients and Cream Butter and Sugar
In a separate large bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, and salt.
Now grab an electric mixer, and beat the butter and sugar together. Use medium-high speed until the mix is nice and fluffy—this takes about 3 minutes.
After that, lower the speed a bit and add the eggs one at a time, then the vanilla, making sure to mix well after each one.
Expert Tip: For more information about how to cream butter and sugar, check out my post about mixing methods.
Step 4: Combine Wet and Dry Ingredients
Now turn the mixer to low and add the flour mixture, mixing until combined.
After that, puree the dates and add the date mixture to the batter, mixing until just combined.
Expert Tip: Be careful not to overmix! Mix until just combined—it doesn’t have to be super smooth. Overmixing will lead to tough muffins!
Step 5: Fill Muffin Tin
Here’s my secret! Pour a little bit of toffee sauce into the bottom of each muffin slot before adding the batter. This creates a crispy, caramelized texture on the outside of the muffins.
Carefully scoop the batter into your muffin tin, filling up to 3/4 of the way full.
Expert Tip: For the perfect amount, use a cookie scoop to scoop the muffin batter into each slot. Plus it keeps everything much cleaner!
Step 6: Bake!
Put the muffin tin in the oven and bake for about 20-25 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes before carefully loosening and unmolding the muffins.
This recipe will not puff up like typical muffins. The aim is to have a flat top because you’ll flip the muffins over to serve and this will become your base.
Expert Tip: For those extra-gooey centers, there’s a little more effort required. Check “How to Get Gooey Centers” below.
How To Get Gooey Centers
If you follow the recipe above, you’ll already get pretty gooey caramel muffins! But, you can go even further— though there’s a bit more effort involved, and you need to fully chill the sauce first.
So the secret is, half fill each muffin slot with the cake batter, then add a little teaspoon of the chilled sauce, before filling the other half.
Then just cook as normal, about 20-25 minutes at 350°F (180°C), and your sticky toffee muffins will have the most delectable gooey centers.
How to Make in Advance and Store
Christmas is a busy time, right? What’s great about these individual sticky toffee puddings, is that they can easily be made ahead—a week or more if needed.
After making the cakes, let them cool completely to room temperature, then store in an airtight container in the fridge. Don’t add any additional sauce until ready to serve.
As for the sauce, just make it as usual. Once again, let it cool fully, then store in a separate container in the fridge.
Reheating the Individual Sticky Toffee Puddings
Remove the puddings from the fridge a few hours ahead of time and let them come up to room temp.
Reheat the sauce in a small saucepan over medium heat until it reaches a flowy consistency. You could use the microwave, just be extra careful you don’t boil it.
Then, follow instructions in the recipe below, starting at the “plate and serve” step.
What Dates to Use For Sticky Toffee Pudding?
The dates that people recommend most for sticky toffee pudding are Medjool dates. They have a nice caramelly taste that works perfectly.
Though if it proves tricky to get this type, other varieties will work fine. Just make sure they’re already pitted, or you pit them yourself.
Here, I used Deglet Noor dates and my recipe turned out just fine!
More Christmas Recipes and Ideas
If got some recipe ideas, as well as gift ideas:
- If you’re looking for the ultimate luxury recipe for the festive season, my Persimmon Cheesecake with Red Wine Sauce is perfect. Check it out!
- I’ve just updated my Christmas gift guide for 2024. You’re sure to find the perfect gift in my specialty curated list.
- Need some more gift ideas for a baking enthusiast? This post gives the essentials every baker needs.
- Everyone loves pies. These pie cookbooks also make perfect gifts.
Before You Go…
I hope you’ve enjoyed my recipe. Post below if you tried making these sticky toffee pudding muffins, I’d love to know how they turned out!
Individual Sticky Toffee Puddings
Equipment
- 1 muffin tin 12 slots, or 2x 6-slot muffin tins
- Electric mixer with paddle attachment
- Food Processor
- cookie scoop optional
- Wire rack
- Baking sheet
Ingredients
For the Sponge:
- 1 cup dates (6 oz) pitted and roughly chopped
- 1 cup boiling water
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter softened
- ? cup dark brown sugar packed
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup flour
For the Sauce
- 1 stick unsalted butter
- 1 cup dark-brown sugar lightly packed
- ¾ cup heavy cream
To Serve
- 3 cups vanilla ice cream
- ¼ cup candied orange peel, thinly sliced optional
Instructions
Prepare
- Spray each slot of a 12-slot muffin tin with baking spray. Use your fingers to spread the oil inside and up the edges, then set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 350?.
- In a medium bowl, soak the chopped dates in the boiling water for 10 minutes. Ensure the dates are submerged. While soaking, make the sauce.
Make the Toffee Sauce
- In a medium saucepan, melt the butter and brown sugar on medium-high heat until dissolved. Whisk frequently.
- Lower the heat and add the cream. Be careful, as the mixture may bubble up.
- Whisking frequently, continue to cook on medium-low heat until the sauce thickens and darkens, for about 4 minutes or until the temperature reaches 220-230?.
Make the Sponge
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar until a paste forms. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat to combine.
- In a separate small bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture and beat to combine.
- In a small blender or food processor, puree the dates with the water and add to batter. Beat until combined and the batter is a consistent brown color.
Bake
- Pour 1 tsp of toffee sauce into each greased muffin slot. Tilt the muffin tin to cover the bottom of each slot.
- Add one heaping cookie scoop of batter to each slot. Fill to ¾ full.
- Bake at 350? for 20-25 minutes or until a knife inserted into the puddings comes out clean. Ideally, the puddings will be flat on top and will not rise like a muffin.
- Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes before removing. Slide a butter knife or metal spatula around the sides of each pudding. Gently peel the caramelized cakes away from the sides of the muffin tin, then tilt out all the puddings onto a wire rack to cool.
Plate and Serve
- When ready to serve, arrange individual puddings on a parchment-lined baking tray with the wide base of the pudding at the bottom. (upside-down compared to how they were baked in the muffin tin)
- Spoon toffee sauce on top of each pudding. Broil for 2 minutes until the sauce is bubbly.
- Carefully plate each sticky toffee pudding individually and add more warm toffee sauce on top. Serve immediately with a quenelle of vanilla ice cream and garnish with candied orange rind (optional).
Notes
- Cakes: After making the cakes, let them cool completely to room temperature, then store in an airtight container in the fridge. Don’t add any additional sauce until ready to serve.
- Sauce: Make according to the recipe. Let it cool fully, then store in a separate container in the fridge.
