Gordon Ramsay Sticky Toffee Pudding Recipe

Gordon Ramsay’s sticky toffee pudding is soft, dark and drenched in banana caramel sauce, made with dates pureed into the batter, muscovado sugar and double cream. Ready in about 40 minutes.

This is the Bread Street Kitchen recipe, where Ramsay calls it “soft and squidgy with plenty of banana caramel sauce to pool on top.” He also filmed a 10-minute microwave version for Ramsay in 10, which tells you how much this dish means to him.

The step that changes everything is the date puree. Ramsay cooks the dates in water until mushy, then blitzes them before folding into the batter. Most people just chop and fold, which gives chewy lumps instead of that dense, fudgy crumb that holds the sauce.

Gordon Ramsay Sticky Toffee Pudding

Recipe by Sophie LaneCourse: DessertCuisine: BritishDifficulty: Easy

Servings

12

servings

Prep time

15

minutes

Cooking time

30

minutes

Calories

480

kcal

Total time

45

minutes

The Bread Street Kitchen recipe: dates pureed with water, folded into a dark muscovado batter with bicarbonate of soda, baked at 190°C and served with banana caramel sauce made from two types of brown sugar and double cream.

Ingredients

• For the pudding:

• 325g (11½ oz) stoned dates, roughly chopped

• 275g (9¾ oz) dark muscovado sugar

• 3 large eggs

• 90g (3 oz) butter, melted and cooled, plus extra for greasing

• 300g (10½ oz) self-raising flour

• 1 tsp baking powder

• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

• For the banana caramel sauce:

• 300g (10½ oz) butter, cut into pieces

• 375g (13 oz) light soft brown sugar

• 150g (5 oz) dark muscovado sugar

• 375ml (1½ cups) double cream (heavy cream)

• 2 just-ripe bananas, chopped

Directions

• Preheat and line: Set the oven to 190°C (170°C fan / 375°F / Gas 5). Grease and line the base of a 30 x 23cm deep baking tin with baking parchment.
• Cook the dates: Put the dates into a saucepan with 225ml of water. Cook over low to medium heat until soft and mushy, about 4 to 5 minutes. Blitz to a puree, then cool slightly.
• Make the batter: Whisk the muscovado sugar and eggs together until paler and light. Whisk in the melted butter. Sift the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda together, then stir into the egg mixture a third at a time. Fold in the date puree.
• Bake: Pour into the prepared tin, smooth the surface. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes until risen and springy to the touch.
• Make the sauce: Combine the butter and both sugars in a saucepan over gentle heat until dissolved. Increase heat and simmer for 1 to 2 minutes to thicken slightly.
• Add the banana: Pour the sauce into a blender, add the bananas and blitz until smooth. Warm through gently.
• Serve: Turn out and cut into 12 squares. Pour the sauce generously over each portion with clotted cream or crème fraîche.

FAQs

What makes Ramsay’s toffee sauce different from a standard one?

He uses two types of brown sugar together, light and dark muscovado, so you get sweetness from one and a bitter treacle edge from the other. Then he blitzes ripe banana into the sauce, which thickens it naturally and rounds out the sharpness.

His Ultimate Home Cooking version goes a different direction with golden syrup, vanilla seeds and sea salt instead, so if banana isn’t your thing that one’s worth trying.

How does Ramsay make his 10-minute microwave version?

Same base: dates, bicarb, butter, brown sugar, egg, flour and golden syrup. He microwaves the dates with bicarb and water for 30 seconds first, which breaks them down fast. The batter goes into a buttered and floured bowl, two-thirds full, then 30-second bursts on full power.

Damp kitchen paper goes on top for the first half to create steam, then off to let the top set. About 2 to 3 minutes total. He serves it with crème fraîche and caramel sauce spooned over.

What is the difference between steamed and baked sticky toffee pudding?

Ramsay has both in his books. The BSK version bakes at 190°C for 25 to 30 minutes, giving you a firmer sponge that slices cleanly. His Ultimate Home Cooking version is steamed in a pudding basin for over 2 hours using suet, walnuts, orange zest and treacle.

The steamed version is denser and more old-fashioned. The baked version is what he serves at the restaurant.

Can you bake these as individual puddings?

Ramsay’s website shows them in individual moulds, which gives each portion its own caramelised crust. Use buttered dariole moulds or a muffin tin, fill two-thirds and bake for 17 to 19 minutes instead of 25 to 30.

Is this a cake or a pudding?

Pudding. The date puree keeps the crumb too soft and sticky to slice cleanly like a cake. It holds together in the tin but falls apart without the sauce, which is the whole point. Gordonramsay.com also does a vegan version using plant-based butter, though that’s not in any of his cookbooks.

How long does sticky toffee pudding keep?

This is one of the few British puddings that genuinely stores well. Cool it completely, wrap it and keep in a cool dry place for a day or two. The sauce keeps separately in the fridge.

Both freeze well for up to a month. The dense date sponge doesn’t dry out like lighter cakes do, so reheated portions taste almost as good. If you want another make-ahead British pudding, he has five others across his cookbooks reheats decently too though it loses the crisp top.