A twist on a super classic dessert! This soft and light sticky toffee pudding is filled with delicious tart baking apples and topped with a silky toffee caramel sauce. Served warm with ice cream or cream, it’s the perfect comforting dessert for autumn.

Sticky Toffee Apple Pudding

If you are not from the UK you may not be familiar with sticky toffee pudding; in simple terms, it’s a traditional British dessert that consists on a sponge cake usually made with chopped dates covered in toffee sauce. It’s usually served warm with custard, ice cream or cream, which are key to balance the sweetness of the toffee.

In decided to give the traditional recipe a twist, partly because I don’t enjoy dates and also because it’s apple season and to be honest, I though that the tartness of the apples mixed with the sweetness of the toffee would make for the most amazing dessert, and I think I was right!

A few tips for success

• Use baking apples – this dessert is naturally sweet, so I would advise using tart baking apples which will help balance out the sweetness.
• Cook your apples – I feel like people don’t cook apples enough. By cooking the apples they’ll acquire the right consistency to remain crunchy but soft, they will also caramelise, which will make them less tart.
• The key to the perfect baked apple – the key to a perfect apple that it’s not too mush but also not too hard is to poke it with a fork, the apple is perfect when the core of the apple still feels crunchy when pierced with a fork. You can also take a piece of apple and put it against the light, the edges of the apple should be translucent but the centre should still be opaque.
• Use molasses or black treacle – you can use either depending on what’s more available to you

Sticky Toffee Apple Pudding

Ingredients:

For the apples:

• 2 large baking apples, peeled, cored and chopped into small cubes
• 1 tsp of vanilla extract
• 1 tsp of ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp of cornstarch 
• 2 tbsp of brown sugar

For the cake:

• 75 grams soft unsalted butter
• 2x tbsp of molasses or black treacle
• 50 gr of dark brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tsp of vanilla extract
• 200 gr of self raising flour
• 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 1/2 tsp of ground ginger (optional, you can also use 1/4 tsp if you don’t want too much ginger)
• 1 tsp of ground cinnamon (optional)
• 1 tsp of baking powder
• 200 ml of whole milk 

For the toffee sauce

• 100 gr of unsalted butter
• 150 gr of dark brown sugar
• 1 tbsp of molasses or black treacle
• 300 ml of double cream (plus extra to serve if desired)
• 1 tsp of vanilla extract

Method:

1. Start by preparing the apple filling. Add the chopped apples, vanilla extract, ground cinnamon, cornstarch and brown sugar to a pot and cook over medium heat until the apples are soft enough to be easily pierced with a fork but not mushy or breaking and there isn’t too much juice in the pot. Transfer to a plate and set aside to cool down completely. The key to a perfect apple that it’s not too mush but also not too hard is to poke it with a fork, the apple is perfect when the core of the apple still feels crunchy when pierced with a fork. You can also take a piece of apple and put it against the light, the edges of the apple should be translucent but the centre should still be opaque; if by the time the apples have got to this stage there’s still too much liquid in the pan, simply drain the liquid, it’s better to do that than having mushy apples!
2. Preheat the oven at 180 degrees celsius – no fan
3. Cream the butter and molasses until fully mixed, then add the sugar and mix again, beating out any lumps. Beat in the eggs, one at a time until completely incorporated. Add in the vanilla extract and mix again.
4. In a separate bow, mix in the flour, bicarbonate of soda and ground cinnamon and ginger until fully mixed. Then, fold into the butter and egg mix until you have a smooth, thick batter.
5. Pour in the milk gradually and whisk again until smooth.
6. Lastly, fold in the cooled apples until fully incorporated.
7. Pour into a 23cm greased square dish and bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean.
8. Make the source while the pudding’s in the oven. Melt the butter, brown sugar and molasses over a very low heat in a pot. Once the butter’s melted, stir gently until everything else is melted too. Then, stir in the cream and turn up the heat, cook until it starts bubbling, then take it off the heat.
9. As soon as the pudding is out of the oven, pierce the cooked sponge all over with a skewer or a toothpick making sure it’s pierced all the way to the bottom of the dish and pour just over half of the warm sauce, making sugar you go all the way to the edges so the whole pudding is covered in a sticky glaze. I used a spatula to carefully create a small gap between the edge of the pudding and the dish so the sauce also soaked the side of the edges all the way to the bottom. Keep the remaining sauce aside to use when serving.