Vegan sticky toffee pudding
Vegan sticky toffee pudding
Sticky toffee pudding is our favourite British dessert. It’s very indulgent, rich and aromatic and it firmly belongs in winter. Each bite reminds me of my past London life. It takes me back to long Sunday walks in Hampstead Heath on sunny, winter days followed by a lunch in a cosy gastropub, a glass of red wine and a share (or whole if there was room) of sticky toffee pudding.
You would be forgiven for thinking that a pudding this rich isn’t an easy thing to veganise, but we found the opposite to be true. We replaced butter with good quality olive oil and because the sponge recipe feels like it could have had some Middle Eastern influence (dates, tea, muscovado sugar), olive oil seems to belong in this recipe.
Instead of eggs, we used unsweetened apple purée, which keeps the sponge moist and balances the sweetness of dates and sugar nicely. Acidity in the apples and baking soda leaven the cake so both functions of eggs (leavening and keeping the cake moist) have been taken care of in quite an uncomplicated way.
This moist aromatic sponge is delicious on its own with a mug of hot tea or coffee, but a drizzle of slightly salted toffee sauce and a scoop of plain vanilla ice cream take it to the next level. Try it, it won’t disappoint! Duncan, our cat Tina and myself are wishing you all a very merry Xmas!
DATE AND CHAI SPONGE
- 175 g / 1 cup pitted dates, roughly chopped
- 1 teabag of chai (or English breakfast tea)
- 80 ml light/mild olive oil
- 50 g / 1/3 cup dark muscovado sugar
- 50 g / scant ¼ cup brown sugar
- 100 g / ½ cup of unsweetened apple purée* (from sour apples)
- 100 ml almond milk
- 175 g / heaped 1 and 1/3 cup plain flour, sifted
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
TOFFEE SAUCE
- 100 g / ½ cup sugar (I used brown, unrefined)
- 120 ml / ½ cup + 60 ml / ¼ cup full fat coconut milk
- a few pinches of salt
DATE AND CHAI SPONGE
- Pour 150 ml (½ + 1/8 cup) of boiling water over the teabag, dates and baking soda. When the tea has brewed for 10 minutes, remove the teabag, add vanilla extract and mash the date mixture with a fork.
- Preheat the oven to 180° C / 355° F.
- Coat the inside of the 6 x 200 ml ramekins with olive oil and line the base with non-stick baking paper.
- In a separate bowl, stir the olive oil, muscovado sugar and light brown sugar until thoroughly combined.
- Add the almond milk, apple purée and date mixture from step 1. Right now it will look way too much like a liquid – that’s okay, it’s the way it should look.
- Combine sifted flour and baking powder. Add them into the wet ingredients and stir until the mixture is smooth. Be careful not to overmix or else the sponge will end up heavy.
- Spoon the mixture into the ramekins (fill the ramekins two thirds full to allow room for rising) and place in the oven for 30-40 minutes (until the top is caramel brown).
- After removing from the oven, allow to cool for 20 minutes before running a knife around the edge of the ramekins and turning them over. They should come out easily.
TOFFEE SAUCE
- Spread an even layer of sugar at the bottom of a dry pan or pot. Heat up sugar on a medium heat (I used setting 3 out of 6). Refrain from stirring it, although if your pan has hot spots, you may need to gently manoeuvre unmelted sugar into a hot spot. Meanwhile, warm up ½ cup of coconut milk in a separate pot.
- Once all the sugar has melted, take the pan off the heat and slowly stir in warmed-up coconut milk. Be very careful as even though warming milk up minimises this, caramel may be splattering at this point and it will be very hot.
- There is a chance that once you add coconut milk, some of the caramel will harden into big lumps. What you need to do is to return the pan to the stove and set on a very low setting (I used 2 out of 6) to allow these lumps to melt away. Make sure you keep on stirring the mixture. Now, because the longer you cook your caramel sauce the more sticky and less sauce-like it will become, if you do need to bring it back to the stove to melt any stubborn lumps, add another ¼ cup / 60 ml of coconut milk to the pan to ensure that once your lumps have dissolved the caramel will retain sauce consistency. Do not panic if it appears to be too runny at first, caramel thickens as it cools down. If it does end up being too runny, you can always reduce it gently again.
- Finally, taste the caramel and season with enough salt to cut through the richness.
Date and chai sponge recipe has been adapted from this recipe.
Coconut flour and almond flour are not actually flours (but ground up nuts) so they tend to behave very differently in a recipe. I would especially steer clear off coconut flour as it's very thirsty and so it sucks all of the moisture out of the cake rendering it dry. Unless the recipe has been developped with coconut flour, it is not a safe swap. Almond flour is less risky but not sure it will work here on its own. I would suggest swapping wheat flour with a good gluten-free plain flour mix (Dove's Farm, for example) that contains a mixture of gluten-free grains and starches. To that I would add half a teaspoon of xanthan gum or a tablespoon of ground flax seeds mixed with 3 tbsp (45 ml) of water (known as flax egg), which help with binding in the absence of gluten. Hope this helps. Ania
Had fun with the toffee sauce spluttering !!
It should work provided your ramekins conduct heat well. This recipe also works in a 20 cm / 8" square baking tin. x Ania
Yes, absolutely. In fact, the cake tastes better a day after it's been made as the flavours have had a chance to mingle and intensify. You can heat it up in a low oven (just make sure you put it in a dish with a lid so that it doesn't dry out) and the sauce can be reheated on the stove (just add a splash of water or plant milk if it needs loosening up a little). Hope this helps! Ania
I’m new to vegan cooking, your website has been a god send. Absolutely love it.
A couple of questions about the sticky toffee puddings )
1. What size ramekins should is use?
And
2. With regard to the olive oil. Should I use the light version or not?
Many thanks
Janine.
Thank you, I'm so glad that the website is coming in handy. The ramekins I used were 200 ml (just under the cup) in capacity and yes, light/mild olive oil is best. Hope this helps! Ania
Thanks again xx
a little warning though, if anyone else tries to microwave the coconut milk to save some time, like me: be careful! It blows up quite quickly and leaves you with a big mess to clean up xD
Cécile
Thanks so much and thanks for your awesome recipes!!
Kirsty
I feel that 8" round tin may be on the small side so you won't need as much batter. Feels like 2/3 of the recipe should be enough if my calculations are correct. As for the baking time, I imagine you would need to increase it by about 10-15 minutes, but it is best to go by feel. Insert a toothpick after the cake has risen (approx. 40 minutes) to see if the cake has been cooked inside. Hope that helps! Ania
I've been desperately looking for a good vegan Sticky Toffee Pudding recipe to make for my brother for Christmas and so glad I've found this!
Just to clarify, if I have a fan assisted oven, should I cook the sponge at 160 degrees or is the 180 degrees in the recipe taking a fan assisted oven into account?
Also, if I make them a day or two before Christmas, will they keep okay until the day? And if so, how do you reheat them? :)
Thank you!
I'm glad you are considering making this. We've never had anyone not like it, including non-vegans who had no idea this is any different to the omni version so I hope your brother will enjoy it too! I mean 180° C without a fan (if you only have a fan function the temperature should be 160° C). The should keep fine, just make sure they are in a sealed box so that they don't dry out. They will reheat well in a low oven covered with a piece of baking foil. Hope that helps! Ania
thank you !
Yes, that's correct. The one from a cupboard (unchilled) is what is needed here. Hope you'll enjoy the end result! Ania
Something along the lines of 20cm x 30cm / 8in x 12in would be perfect. Hope that helps! Ania
Thanks!
Yes, absolutely, just dilute it a little bit first as coconut milk (from a tin) tends to be richer / fattier and therefore thicker than almond milk. You could also use soy milk or oatly. I am sure all three will give you a good result. Hope that helps! Ania
The dollop on top is my handmade vegan ice-cream. I haven't tried it with custard as I prefer the contrast between warm and cold, but it should also work. Why not? Ania
I'll be honest, I've never frozen any cake in my life ;) as they never last in my house but if you have, I don't see why this one would not work. It's one of these cakes that's moist and gets better with time so I don't think freezing it will impact the taste or texture.
Hope that helps,
Ania
This link provides a useful substitution:
https://www.reference.com/food/can-substitute-muscovado-sugar-4996d198013660e#
provided that you can get treacle!
I hope that helps!
Cheers,
Ania
Ania
Tried this sticky toffee pudding recipe - which was just gorgeous. Had the guests fighting for the extras - can't wait to have them again and to try out other recipes! Keep the recipes coming!