Skip to content
Open menu Close menu

Feed your appetite for cooking with Penguin’s expert authors

penguin logo

Seema Pankhania’s Spiced Rum Sticky Toffee Pudding

by Seema Pankhania from Craveable: All I want to eat

The iconic sticky toffee pudding gets an upgrade in this recipe from Seema Pankhania that infuses the sponge with spiced dark rum to complement the flavours of ginger, cinnamon, and molasses.

From the book

Introduction

Sticky toffee pudding was always a household favourite – it’s the first dessert I made successfully. I actually tested it for years, trying to get the perfect light fluffy sponge with sweet creamy caramel sauce that tastes like melted Werthers originals, but was also not too sweet. There was a moment where I had to put in a ban because my mum was requesting it so much! The light fluffy sponge here has been infused with the flavours of black Jamaican rum cake. I don’t often call for alcohol in my desserts, and this may be the only one I’ve had where the rum really complements the warmth of the spices and dark sugars.

Read more Read less

Ingredients

250g whole medjool dates (approx. 16–18 dates, weighed with seeds)
3 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp grated ginger
100ml dark rum, plus more for serving or water
85g butter, softened
200g dark brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tbsp black treacle (molasses) or honey or golden syrup
100ml milk
175g plain flour
½ tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
For the toffee sauce:
100g butter, cut into pieces
200g dark brown sugar
300ml double cream
½ tsp salt
To serve:
vanilla ice cream
cream or custard
50g butter, to reheat (optional)

Essential kit

You will need a 900g loaf tin.

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease and line a 900g loaf tin.

Remove the stones from the dates, roughly chop, and put into a pan with 150ml of water and 1 teaspoon of bicarb, cinnamon and ginger. Cook for 10 minutes, pushing the dates down to form a thick paste. Remove from the heat and mix in the rum.

In a large bowl, beat the butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs, date paste, molasses, milk and mix well. Add in the plain flour, 2 teaspoons of bicarb, salt and the baking powder and mix until just combined.

Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 50 minutes until a toothpick comes out with moist crumbs.

Meanwhile, make the toffee sauce. Melt the butter in a saucepan and add the brown sugar. Cook for 10 minutes, until bubbling rapidly, then add the double cream. Cook for another 2 minutes and add the 1⁄2 teaspoon of salt.

To serve, you can slice the cake and serve it hot with a scoop of ice cream, or cream, and lots of toffee sauce.

If the cake has been fully cooled, toast the slices with some butter in a pan on both sides, then top with ice cream and toffee sauce.

For some drama, pour 2 tablespoons of rum over the top of the cake and flambé with a blowtorch.

NOTES: I’ve made this in a loaf tin because I like how easy it is to serve for a big crowd, but you could make it in a 25cm cake tin and check it in the oven after 35 minutes.

Reviews

5 out of 5 stars

3 Ratings

Have you tried this recipe? Let us know how it went by leaving a comment below.

Please note: Moderation is enabled and may delay your comment being posted. There is no need to resubmit your comment. By posting a comment you are agreeing to the website Terms of Use.

4 Comments

    default user avatar Moira

    Absolutely brilliant. I used a mixture of dates & raisins and puréed it. Delicious flavours though I used cognac instead of dark rum. The caramel flavoured sauce made it into a lovely pudding.

    See more

    default user avatar TrickyDicky

    Mana from ” heaven”, or more accurately since we are having spice, fire, and warmth , then, it’s from the other place ! It is Soooooo GOOD !

    See more

    default user avatar Asha

    Is it really 85g of butter?

    See more

    default user avatar The Happy Foodie Team

    Hi Asha,

    This is the correct quantity of butter.

    The Happy Foodie Team

    See more

newsletter

Subscribe to The Happy Foodie email newsletter

Get our latest recipes, features, book news and ebook deals straight to your inbox every week