Gluten Free Sticky Toffee Pudding Cake

12 Days of Holiday Recipes — Day 12

Saving the best recipe for the last day of my 12 days of holiday recipes! I’ve been really craving sticky toffee pudding and this is shockingly the first time I’ve ever made it. Of course I wanted to put my own little spin on it by making it gluten free and with unrefined coconut sugar and maple syrup (though there’s still plenty of sugar in it, don’t worry). The result reminded me so much of this incredible sticky date muffin that we get every time we go to New York (from Butler in Williamsburg) - in other words, it is incredible.

This gluten free sticky toffee pudding is made with wholesome ingredients like Medjool dates, almond flour and coconut sugar. I also threw some brown butter in there because how could I not?! Topped with a luscious homemade dairy free caramel sauce, this is the perfect “fancy” holiday dessert that’s actually quite easy to make. Just bake it in a cake pan, slice it up and serve the slices with vanilla ice cream and lots of caramel sauce. HEAVENLY! Enjoy :)

Gluten Free Sticky Toffee Pudding Cake

Ingredients

For the sticky toffee pudding cake:

• 8oz pitted chopped Medjool dates (about 1 ½ cups)

• 1 tsp baking soda

• 1 cup boiling water

• ⅓ cup melted or browned butter (see notes)

• ½ cup coconut sugar

• 2 eggs

• 2 tsp vanilla

• 1 cup almond flour, lightly packed

• ½ cup gluten free 1-to-1 baking flour (see notes)

• 1 tsp baking powder

• 1 tsp cinnamon

• ½ tsp sea salt

For the caramel sauce:

• ½ cup brown sugar (or coconut sugar; see notes)

• ⅓ cup coconut milk (use the thick cream at the top of the can - you can also use heavy cream if not dairy free)

• 4 tbsp unsalted butter

• 1 tsp vanilla 

• Big pinch of sea salt

To serve:

• Vanilla ice cream or whipped cream

Method

Start by making your caramel sauce: add brown sugar to a saucepan over medium. Let it cook for a few minutes, keeping an eye on it and stirring constantly, until the sugar has just started to melt. Add in your coconut milk, whisk, and bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and let it cook for about 15-20 minutes until it has thickened and coats the back of a spoon. Whisk in your butter, vanilla and sea salt and remove from the heat. Pour into a jar and let cool for 10-15 minutes before transferring the caramel to the fridge. It will thicken up more the longer it sits in the fridge, so let it rest for at least 1 hour or make it ahead of time and let it rest overnight.

When ready to make the cake, grab a heatproof bowl or measuring cup, add your Medjool dates and cover with 1 cup of boiling water and 1 tsp baking soda. Let this mixture rest for 30 minutes to soften the dates.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Once the date mixture is softened, pour it into a large bowl. Add your butter, coconut sugar, eggs and vanilla and whisk by hand or with an electric beater until combined (there will still be some date chunks). Add your almond flour, gluten free baking flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt to the wet mixture and mix until all the flour is incorporated and you have a mostly smooth batter.

Pour batter into a greased or lined square (8x8 inch) baking pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes until the centre is set and toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let cool for 10 minutes.

Poke holes in your cake with a fork and pour a few spoonfuls of caramel sauce over the cake to let it soak in. Cut cake into 12 slices and serve each slice with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or whipped cream and another spoonful of caramel sauce.

Serves 12

Notes:

• I made my cake with brown butter to give it extra caramel flavour but you can also just use regular melted butter. If using brown butter, the method for making it is here

• You can use brown sugar in place of coconut sugar for the cake and vice versa for the caramel sauce (use what you have!)

• I always use Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour in my gluten free baking

• I haven’t tested this with regular all purpose flour but I think it would work in place of the gluten free baking flour. Do not replace the almond flour with regular AP flour though as it’ll change the texture too much!