How to Bake Individual Sticky Toffee Puddings

Why Individual Puddings Beat One Big One

Sticky toffee pudding is one of the great British teatime and after-dinner treats, but a single large bake has one persistent problem: the sauce. Pour it over a big pudding and the middle stays stubbornly dry while the edges swim. Baked individually, every portion gets its own generous soaking of warm toffee, a crisp-topped dome and a soft, date-flecked centre. They also look far more impressive on the plate, which matters when you are feeding guests rather than family. The mixture comes together in minutes, and the whole thing can be prepared hours ahead — a rare combination in the dessert world.

What You Will Need

You want six small moulds, roughly 150ml each. Metal dariole moulds, small pudding basins, ramekins or even a deep muffin tin will all work perfectly well.

• For the sponge: 200g stoned dates, chopped; 200ml boiling water; 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda; 75g softened unsalted butter; 150g light muscovado sugar; 2 large eggs; 175g self-raising flour; a pinch of fine sea salt
• For the sauce: 100g unsalted butter; 100g light muscovado sugar; 100ml double cream; a good pinch of flaky sea salt; a splash of vanilla extract
• To serve: clotted cream, vanilla ice cream or proper custard

Muscovado matters more than you might think. Its molasses content gives the pudding that dark, treacly depth that caster sugar simply cannot match, so don't be tempted to swap it out.

Start With the Dates

Put the chopped dates in a heatproof bowl and pour over the boiling water. Stir in the bicarbonate of soda — it will fizz, which is exactly what you want, as it softens the dates and helps the sponge rise later. Leave for 10 minutes, then mash with a fork until you have a rough, thick purée. Some lumps are welcome; they give the finished pudding texture and stop it tasting uniform.

Meanwhile, heat the oven to 180°C fan (200°C conventional, gas mark 6) and grease your moulds thoroughly with butter, then dust with a little flour or line the bases with a small disc of baking paper. This is the step people skip, and it is the one that decides whether your puddings turn out in one piece.

Mixing and Baking

Cream the butter and muscovado sugar together until pale and fluffy — four or five minutes with an electric whisk, longer by hand. Beat in the eggs one at a time, adding a spoonful of the flour with the second to stop the mixture curdling. Fold in the remaining flour, the salt and the date purée. The batter will be quite loose, which is correct, so don't panic and add more flour.

Divide between the moulds, filling each about two-thirds full. Do not overfill: the puddings rise, and a domed top gives you more surface for the sauce to cling to. Bake for 18–22 minutes, until risen and firm to a gentle press, and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.

The Toffee Sauce

Make the sauce while the puddings bake. Melt the butter, muscovado sugar and cream together in a small pan over a low heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook for three to four minutes, stirring now and then, until the sauce thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. Take it off the heat and stir in the salt and vanilla. The salt is not optional — it is what stops the sauce tasting merely sweet and makes it taste like proper toffee.

If the sauce splits or looks grainy, a tablespoon of hot water and a brisk whisk will bring it back together in seconds.

Turning Out, Serving and Making Ahead

Let the puddings sit in their moulds for two minutes, no longer, then run a thin knife around the edge and turn out onto warm plates. If any stick, dip the base of the mould briefly in hot water and try again.

Pour the warm sauce over generously — more than feels sensible — and serve immediately with clotted cream or vanilla ice cream, so the cold cream meets the hot toffee.

To get ahead: bake the puddings, turn them out and cool completely, then cover and refrigerate for up to two days. Reheat in a 160°C fan oven for 8–10 minutes, or microwave individual puddings for 30–40 seconds. The sauce keeps in the fridge for a week and reheats gently in a pan with a splash of cream.

Serve them as a winter dinner-party finish, or in smaller moulds as part of a teatime spread alongside a pot of strong tea. Either way, you will want to make double.