English Breakfast Tea Sticky Toffee Pudding
A warm, indulgent sticky toffee pudding where dates are soaked in English Breakfast tea—dense, malty, and drenched in toffee sauce.
Sticky toffee pudding is pure British comfort, and soaking the dates in strong English Breakfast tea instead of plain water adds a malty depth that makes the pudding taste more complex and less one-dimensionally sweet.
The tea's tannins cut through the richness of the toffee sauce, creating balance where you'd otherwise have pure sugar overload. It's the same principle that makes the tea work with a full English—it resets the palate.
The pudding itself should be dense and moist, not cakey. Blending the tea-soaked dates into a paste and folding them into the batter ensures every bite is loaded with that deep, dark, malty sweetness.
Pour the warm toffee sauce over the pudding right before serving, and add a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a dollop of clotted cream. The contrast of hot pudding and cold cream is non-negotiable.
Ingredients
- 200g pitted dates, chopped
- 1 cup strongly brewed English Breakfast tea, hot
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 85g unsalted butter, softened
- 150g dark brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 175g self-raising flour
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- For toffee sauce: 100g butter, 175g dark brown sugar, 150ml double cream
How to make it
- 1Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F). Grease a 20cm square baking tin.
- 2Pour hot brewed English Breakfast tea over chopped dates. Stir in bicarbonate of soda. Let sit 15 minutes, then mash or blend into a paste.
- 3Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, then add vanilla.
- 4Fold in flour gently, then fold in the date-tea paste until just combined.
- 5Pour into the prepared tin and bake 30–35 minutes until firm on top and a skewer comes out clean.
- 6Make toffee sauce: melt butter with brown sugar in a saucepan. Add cream, bring to a simmer, and cook 3 minutes until thickened.
- 7Poke holes in the warm pudding with a skewer. Pour half the sauce over and let it soak in 5 minutes.
- 8Serve warm with remaining sauce poured over and vanilla ice cream or clotted cream.
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