Sticky Toffee Cake with Toffee Sauce
A tall, soft date cake with a dark brown sugar crumb and warm toffee sauce, made separately so every slice gets its own generous pour.
- Total
- 1 hr 20 min
- Prep
- 25 min
- Bake
- 55 min
- Level
- Medium
- Serves
- 10
- Tin
- 20 cm springform
This sticky toffee cake gets its dark, soft crumb from dates soaked until they almost collapse. Brown sugar and a little black treacle give it a deep caramel flavour, even before the warm sauce reaches the plate.
The thick batter needs time to cook through in one deep tin. Keep the oven gentle and resist taking the cake out while the middle still wobbles. The toffee sauce takes only a few minutes while the cake cools.
Ingredients
For one 20 cm springform, serves 10
For the cake
For the toffee sauce
You will need
- 20 cm round springform cake tin, preferably deep-sided
- Baking parchment
- Large mixing bowl
- Heatproof bowl
- Electric hand mixer
- Silicone spatula
- Fork or potato masher
- Small heavy-based saucepan
- Wooden spoon
- Wire cooling rack
- Skewer
Oven
175°C fan 155°C 345°F
Method
Oven 175°C · fan 155°C · 345°F
Soften the dates
Heat the oven to 175C, 155C fan. Grease the springform tin and line its base and sides with baking parchment. Put the chopped dates in a heatproof bowl, pour over the boiling water and stir in the bicarbonate of soda. The mixture will foam briefly. Leave it until the dates are soft enough to crush with a fork, then mash into a thick, lumpy paste. It should be warm rather than hot before you add it to the batter.
Cream the butter and sugar
Put the softened butter and light brown soft sugar in a large mixing bowl. Beat with an electric hand mixer until lighter in colour, soft and fluffy, with no hard lumps of butter. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each until mostly blended. Beat in the black treacle and vanilla extract. The mixture should look thick and glossy, although a slightly grainy appearance is normal.
Fold in the dates and flour
Fold the softened dates and their soaking liquid into the butter mixture with a spatula. Add the self-raising flour and fine sea salt, then fold gently until no dry flour remains. The batter should be thick but soft enough to fall slowly from the spatula, with small dark flecks of date throughout. Stop mixing once the last flour streak disappears.
Fill the springform tin
Spoon the batter into the prepared tin and spread it into the corners with the spatula. Smooth the top without pressing down hard. The surface should look even and slightly glossy, with a few small pieces of date visible beneath it. Check that the parchment sits flat against the sides.
Bake until the centre is set
Place the tin on the middle shelf and bake for 50 to 60 minutes. The cake should rise into a rounded, deep golden-brown top that may have a few natural cracks. Check towards the end of the baking time: a skewer pushed into the middle comes out with a few damp crumbs, and the top springs back when pressed gently. There should be no wet batter on the skewer.
Make the toffee sauce while the cake cools
Leave the baked cake for 20 minutes in the tin. Meanwhile, put the double cream, dark brown soft sugar, cubed butter, black treacle and fine sea salt in a small heavy-based saucepan. Heat gently, stirring until the butter melts and the sugar dissolves. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring often. The sauce should turn a rich amber-brown and coat the back of a spoon while still running off in a smooth ribbon. Take it off the heat.
Release the cake
After its rest in the tin, run a thin knife around the inside edge if any cake is sticking to the parchment. Open the springform catch and lift away the ring. Peel off the side parchment carefully, then leave the whole cake on its base to cool further on a wire rack. The sides should be deep brown and firm enough to hold their shape, while the top remains slightly springy.
Cut and serve with warm sauce
When the cake is warm rather than hot, transfer it to a serving plate and cut into thick wedges with a sharp knife. Lift out one wedge and place it on a dessert plate. The cut face should reveal a close, moist, caramel-brown crumb dotted with softened dates. Bring the warm toffee sauce to the table and pour it over each slice immediately before serving.
Baker's notes
- Use soft, moist dates rather than dry, sugar-coated chopped dates. They break down more readily in the hot water and spread through the batter.
- Black treacle gives the cake a deeper colour and a slightly bitter edge that balances the sweet dates. Golden syrup will produce a lighter, sweeter flavour if you prefer to substitute it.
- A deep-sided springform tin is important for this amount of batter. The cake rises well above its original level, so avoid a shallow sandwich tin.
- For neater slices, let the cake cool until it feels only slightly warm to the touch. A very hot crumb can tear when the knife passes through.
- Allergens: contains dairy, egg and gluten. The recipe contains no nuts or alcohol, but check packaged ingredients for possible cross-contact if needed.
Keeping it Keep the cake covered in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days, or refrigerate for up to 4 days. Store the sauce separately in a covered container in the fridge for up to 4 days, then reheat gently before serving. The cake can also be frozen without sauce for up to 2 months; thaw it while wrapped before cutting.
Questions, answered
Can I make sticky toffee cake the day before?
Yes. Once completely cool, wrap the cake well and keep it in an airtight container. The date crumb stays moist overnight and the flavour becomes a little deeper. Warm individual slices gently before adding the sauce.
Can I use Medjool dates?
Yes. Medjool dates are especially soft and have a rich caramel flavour. Remove the stones before weighing them, and chop them so they soften evenly in the hot water.
Can I make the cake without an electric mixer?
Yes, provided the butter is properly softened. Use a sturdy wooden spoon to beat the butter and sugar until the mixture becomes lighter and fluffy. It takes more effort by hand, but the remaining batter can be mixed with a spatula.
Can I freeze individual slices?
Yes. Wrap cooled slices separately and freeze them in a sealed container. Thaw at room temperature and warm gently before serving. Keep the sauce separate so the crumb does not become soaked during storage.
What can I serve alongside sticky toffee cake?
A spoonful of lightly whipped double cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream works well with the warm toffee sauce. Plain crème fraîche is another option if you want something less sweet beside the rich date crumb.
If it goes wrong
- It sank in the middleSeven causes, told apart by the shape of the crater.
- It came out raw in the centreBrown outside, wet inside, and how to rescue the one you are holding.
- The caramel seizedIt is almost always fixable. The lump re-melts.
