This gluten free sticky toffee pudding is the ultimate recipe for desert. Nobody is going to know that it’s gluten free and dairy free. It is moist, decadent and delicious.
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How the recipe came about & a bonfire night story…
The first time I made this recipe was for bonfire night.
The perfect excuse for a ‘special’ meal of roast chicken followed by a hot decadent sticky pudding.
It’s not easy to find a gluten free and dairy free sticky toffee pudding and consequently the kids had never had it before.
To say it was a success is an understatement! It flew out of the bowls at the speed of light, and of course, seconds were asked for.
The same success cannot be accredited to the fireworks display that we went to afterwards.
On a fabulous evening of no rain and barely a chill in the air, we got all dressed up after tea and headed up to a favourite local charity, Stallcombe House, for their annual spectacular bonfire and display.
Now, we have been going since the kids were 2 and 4, and each year, our youngest has hated it.
Each year he’s said “next year I will love fireworks” between screams and sobs with head thrust into my neck.
This year was slightly different. He said he didn’t want to go, until the last minute when he decided that he did.
Predictably, the minute the first firework shot into the sky and burst into shards of colour he started sobbing and asking to go to the car.
Five minutes later, our daughter, the one who has always loved the display, decided that she was going to be terrified too. So, after a slippery, muddy walk back to the car in the dark, we sat snuggled in the warm enjoying the fabulous display.
The morning after, ‘Sunshine’ announced that he “loved fireworks” and then proceeded to make our neighbours little boy cry by telling him that he had been to a display.
Anyway, story over and onto the recipe.
How do you make a gluten free sticky toffee pudding?
Sticky toffee pudding is much easier to make than you might think.
After placing the chopped dates into a bowl with boiling water and bicarbonate of soda you cream the butter (or margarine) with the sugar. Then add all the remaining ingredients including the soaked dates and water.
I use my Sage stand mixer to cream the butter/margarine and sugar together. It has fabulous scraping beaters meaning you don’t have to stop and scrape the mixture off the sides all the time. It also means you can set it going and get on with doing another job.
You can bake the sticky toffee pudding in whatever size and shape tin you like.
The first time I made it I used a rectangular tray like this one. However you could use a smaller deeper tray and you’ll get thicker slices (like those pictured here). Just cook for an additional 15 minutes or so.
How have you made this pudding healthier?
I always try to make my recipes healthier than the ‘standard’ recipe.
This one is no exception so I’ve recently updated it, cutting back on the amount of sugar. I’ve also switched brown sugar for coconut sugar (that I personally find has less of an impact on my blood sugar levels).
By using my wholegrain gluten free flour blend, rather than the other refined white flour blends on the market, the impact of the sugar will be less on your blood sugar levels.
Fibre, found in wholegrain’s, is an important part of everyone’s diet and the gluten free diet is often lacking in it. That’s why I created my flour blend after finding nothing else like it on the market.
If you want to understand more about gluten free flour blends, what they are and why they are critical to your gluten free baking success then check out this article here.
And if you like this recipe then grab a free copy of my popular recipe book. It covers gluten free pastry, bread, pizza, Yorkshire puddings, scones, Victoria sponge, pancakes and gingerbread.
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Make sure you Pin the recipe for gluten free sticky toffee pudding:
Gluten Free Sticky Toffee Pudding (Dairy Free)
Ingredients
Pudding ingredients
- 175 g dates - stoned and chopped
- 300 ml boiling water
- 1 tsp bicarbonate soda
- 85 g dairy-free margarine - or butter if you're not dairy-free
- 100 g coconut sugar - or soft brown sugar if you like
- 2 large eggs - ideally organic
- 190 g Free From Fairy gluten free plain flour
- 2 tsp baking powder - I use Dr Oetker
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Toffee sauce ingredients
- 300 ml dairy-free milk - or ordinary milk if you are not dairy-free I used unsweetened almond milk
- 1 tbsp cornflour
- 80 g dairy-free margarine - or butter if you can tolerate
- 100 g coconut sugar - or soft brown sugar
- 1 tbsp molasses - or treacle
Instructions
To make the pudding
- Place the chopped dates and bicarbonate of soda in the boiling water and leave to soften for approx. 15-20 minutes
- Cream (whisk) the butter and sugar together until the mixture is paler, using a stand mixer if you have one
- Add the remaining ingredients, including the dates and whisk together until well mixed
- Place in a greased cake tin, the size and shape depending on whether you want very deep slices or 'shallower' ones. See discussion above
- Bake at 190 degrees or 170 degree fan oven for approx. 25 minutes. This is based on a 20cm x 30cm tin. The bake time will depend on the size of tin you use. If you are putting the mixture into a deeper tin then you will need to bake for longer. Test if it is cooked by poking the top...if it springs back, it is done! Or insert a skewer. It should come out clean.
- Whilst your pudding is cooking, make the toffee sauce...
To make the toffee sauce
- Mix the cornflour with approx. 3tbsp milk in a small saucepan, making sure there are no lumps
- Add the remaining ingredients and slowly bring to the boil, stirring frequently
- Once boiling, turn the heat up so that you get quite big bubbles coming to the surface and keep stirring frequently for approx. 20 minutes or until the sauce becomes the consistency you require.
- Remove from the heat and serve with your warm pudding and some dairy-free vanilla ice cream.
Ivano Darra says
Disappointing! Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, the cake is cooked and it looks fine but the sauce was a total disaster I don’t get how you can put in a recipe “until the sauce becomes the consistency you require”? I don’t know what the consistency should be? It wasn’t turning dark, so i kept going but at one point it kind of separated – oil on one side, and a gelatinous blob on the other side… I wonder if coconut sugar was key? i used brown sugar.. All the best in any case
Vicki Montague says
Sorry to hear you didn’t get the sauce to work. I’m not sure what you did wrong there? The reason I say for people to cook until the consistency they require is because some people will like a runny sauce and others a thick one. The longer you boil it, the thicker it will get; so you keep cooking it until it reaches your desired consistency. I’m not sure why yours separated but I’m pretty sure that if you had kept stirring it on the heat it would have come back together again.
Debra says
Hi, I just read your recipe for sticky toffee pudding and it looks great. I’m wondering if the water that you soak the dates in also needs to be added to the recipe or do I drain the water and just use the dates? Many thanks
Vicki Montague says
You use the water too.
Glen says
Hi it recipes says dairy free but has eggs have I read it wrong,could you make this without eggs maybe add oil to mix so its not dry, thanks.
Vicki Montague says
Hi Glen, yes it is dairy free. No dairy…that is products from a cow. Eggs come from a hen so are not dairy. The eggs help with the rise so I’m not sure it would work without them. I suggest looking for a vegan recipe if you want something that has no dairy or eggs.
Heather says
What a lovely pudding. The cakes came out so light and the sauce, although took a long time, was perfect for the sponge. My dessert loving husband who is now gluten and dairy free was very impressed that he could actually eat this!!
Vicki Montague says
I’m so glad you enjoyed it 🙂
Rebecca Smith says
I adore sticky toffee pudding, possibly too much, I’ll end up looking like one hahaha. Love the fact this recipe will end up with less of a sugar spike for my daughter too.
Vicki Montague says
OMG tell me about it. This is torture! No way to avoid it..it’s one of my favourite puddings ;)!
Clare Wadsworth says
Just made this for pudding tonight, it was absolutely delicious! Will definitely make again. Thank you Vicki x
Vicki Montague says
Ah that’s fab Clare. It is one of our firm favourites and is great for entertaining. Nobody ever has a clue that is it ‘free from’!
Jackie Moffat says
Made this for dessert this evening, just one word….. delicious ?
Vicki Montague says
Oh I’m so pleased you like it! It’s amazing isn’t it?!