Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

Sticky date pudding is the dessert that ended every good pub meal in Australia for a decade and is somehow still the best one on the menu. Soft, dark, generously sticky, with a butterscotch sauce that puddles around it like it just woke up from a nap.

It’s also one of the easiest desserts to make properly at home. The hardest part is waiting for it to come out of the oven. The second hardest part is not eating all the sauce off the spoon while you’re making it.

Two crucial details

Soak the dates in boiling water with baking soda. Ten minutes, no shortcuts. The soda breaks down the dates so they melt into the batter rather than sitting in chunky islands. This is the difference between gummy pudding and silky pudding.

Don’t overbake. A skewer should come out with a few moist crumbs, not clean. Clean means dry. Dry sticky-date pudding is the saddest thing in dessert. Pull it out 30-35 minutes in, even if it looks slightly underdone. It firms up as it rests.

Scotty Boxa

Sticky Date Pudding (Aussie Pub Classic, Done Right)

No ratings yet
Aussie pub-classic sticky date pudding with butterscotch sauce. Soft, dark, generously sticky. The dessert that closes the deal.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 35 minutes
Total Time 5 minutes
Ingredients Method Nutrition Notes

Ingredients
 

Pudding
  • 250 g pitted dates, chopped
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 300 ml boiling water
  • 125 g unsalted butter, softened
  • 170 g brown sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 175 g self-raising flour
Sauce
  • 125 g unsalted butter
  • 200 g brown sugar
  • 300 ml thickened cream
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions
 

Method
  1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F). Grease a 20cm square baking dish.
  2. Combine chopped dates and baking soda in a bowl. Pour over the boiling water. Set aside 10 minutes to soften.
  3. Cream butter and brown sugar with electric beaters until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
  4. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each. Stir in vanilla.
  5. Fold in the flour, then the date mixture (with all its liquid). Mix gently to combine.
  6. Pour into the prepared dish. Bake 30-35 minutes until a skewer comes out with just a few moist crumbs.
  7. While the pudding bakes, make the sauce: combine butter, brown sugar, and cream in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir until smooth and slightly thickened, about 5 minutes. Off heat, stir in vanilla.
  8. Pour about a third of the sauce over the warm pudding. Reserve the rest for serving. Cut into squares and serve warm with extra sauce and a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Nutrition

Calories: 510kcal

Notes

Date trick. The boiling water and baking soda step softens the dates and breaks them down. Don't skip it; it's what makes the pudding fall-apart-tender instead of chewy.
Make ahead. The pudding reheats beautifully. Microwave 30 seconds with a splash of sauce on top.
Bourbon upgrade. Add 2 tbsp bourbon to the butterscotch sauce when you take it off the heat. Adults only, obvious upgrade.
Servings: 8 people
Calories: 510

Loved This Recipe?

You'll love my Recipe Books!

What to serve it with

Vanilla ice cream is the law. A jug of extra butterscotch sauce on the table is the second law. A small glass of dessert wine (a sauternes or a tokaji) if you want to pretend this is fancy. It isn’t. It’s a soft, dark, sticky lump of pure comfort, and that’s exactly what makes it perfect.

This sits in the dessert lineup of Sweets & Treats alongside 24 other recipes including a few that use boozy variations on this same butterscotch sauce.

I’m Scotty Boxa. Australian author, professional bad decision maker, and the bloke responsible for the rest of this website.

If this dessert hit, Sweets & Treats is built like it. 25 dessert recipes that don’t require a pastry degree, all written like I’m talking you through it.