Vegan Sticky Date Pudding

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Rich delicious vegan Sticky Date Pudding, mostly sweetened with gorgeous Medjool dates, has just the right amount of sweetness while staying true to the original Sticky Toffee Pudding. Copiously doused in velvety warm toffee sauce, this exquisitely sticky and satisfyingly dense classic holiday dessert is probably one of the best puddings to enjoy during the holiday season.

This post is sponsored by Natural Delights Medjool Dates. For full disclosure, please read below at the end of the post.

We’ve partnered with Natural Delights Medjool Dates today to bring you this incredible Sticky Date Pudding which is one of my favourite puddings to enjoy on a cold winter’s day. 

The word pudding might suggest that the cake is steamed but it is in fact baked like a cake or muffin. I suppose you could also steam it if you wanted to.

Sticky Date or Toffee Pudding is known to be a quintessentially British dessert, although it appears that the origin is Canadian. I first came to know about the Sticky Toffee Pudding when I was living in England and I instantly fell in love with it. If you’ve never had this pudding before, you need to make it, in this instant! I’m pretty sure you’ll be hooked for life. This dessert is absolutely incredible.

What I also love about Sticky Date Pudding is that it is not all empty calories thanks to the Medjool dates that present an excellent nutrient profile. Their natural sugar contributes to the sweetness without spiking your blood sugar. Medjools have a low to medium glycemic index score due to the amount of fibre they contain. They are also low in fat, high in antioxidants and packed with nutrients like potassium. By weight, Medjool dates contain 50% more potassium than bananas. These Medjools are also a good source of copper, magnesium, vitamin B6, niacin, calcium, iron and vitamin K.

Natural Delights Medjool Dates are not dried dates but rather a fresh fruit available year-round in the produce section of grocery stores. They are grown in Bard Valley situated where Arizona, California and Mexico meet. This unique location is bathed in more sunshine than any other place in North America and produce one of the world’s finest Medjool dates. They contain no sulphites or preservatives. Medjools make a healthy snack whenever I have a little sweet craving and they are a staple in my kitchen for numerous recipes. 

Natural Delights also have these Medjools in pitted and chopped versions for your convenience and also organic. You’ll find a range of other products, such as the date rolls which are really delicious and available in a few different flavours. Check out the Natural Delights website where you’ll also find the nutrition facts and a store locator for the products. 

Vegan Sticky Medjool Date Pudding

Deliciously tender and moist Medjool date filled cake is a lush dessert that begs to be served warm with a generous topping of extra caramel toffee sauce. Optionally, you could also serve it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. 

Traditionally Sticky Date Pudding is not vegan but it is very easy to swap in ingredients to make it plant-based and it is a relatively easy dessert to make. It consists of two parts, the date cake and the toffee sauce that gives the cake its characteristic stickiness and gooeyness. 

I’ve reduced the amount of sugar in this version, relying more on the natural sweetness of Medjool dates. The toffee sauce then complements and delivers the final sweet touch. To me, this recipe has just the perfect amount of sweetness without going overboard. 

If you want to just make the cake or turn it into date breakfast muffins to serve without the sauce, then I suggest that you double the amount of coconut palm sugar or add a few more Medjool dates. 

To make the cake, we start by pitting and chopping the Medjools. You may also just buy the Chopped Medjool Dates from Natural Delights to save yourself some time and effort. Meanwhile, warm up some soy milk (or other plant-based milk) and once heated, remove from the heat and drop in the chopped Medjools. Leave them to soak for about 15 minutes. Since these Medjool dates are a fresh fruit, they don’t require a lot of time to soften.

In the meantime, set the oven to preheat and grease a 23-cm/9-inch square baking pan and set it aside. Whisk all the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl — spelt flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon, except the coconut palm sugar.

To the Medjool and soy milk mixture in the saucepan, add the rest of the wet ingredients — vinegar, oil, molasses and vanilla extract.

Then, pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, fold and mix into a batter. The batter is rather thick but not stodgy. Lastly, add the coconut palm sugar and fold in gently. Do not overmix.

Finally, pour the batter into the prepared baking dish and place in the preheated oven for 35-40 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

Once baked, leave the cake to cool a little then poke it all over with a skewer. 

In the meantime, make the caramel toffee sauce. In a small saucepan on medium-high heat, place the coconut palm sugar,  coconut milk, molasses and vanilla extract. Whisk all ingredients together and bring to a gentle boil. 

Once the mixture starts to become bubbly, turn down the heat and simmer while stirring for 5 – 8 minutes or until mixture begins to thicken a little. The mixture will still be runny but will continue to thicken after you take it off the heat. Do not overcook the mixture or it will become like candy. If this does happen upon cooling, add a little water and warm it on low heat until it is syrupy. 

Allow to cool for at least 10 minutes then generously drizzle the caramel sauce over the pudding. Save some of the sauce for serving.

Cut into 9 portions and serve warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and some extra sauce.

To save time, you can make both the cake and the sauce in advance and keep them separate until ready to serve. The cake will keep for 2 days (without the sauce) on the counter in an air-tight container. It can also be frozen. 

The sauce can be stored in the fridge, however, it will begin to solidify. To serve again simply add 1-2 tablespoons water and warm it for a few minutes.

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Full disclosure: This post is sponsored by Natural Delights Medjool Dates. We only endorse products and services that we like, enjoy, use and that we believe, based on our experience, are worthy of such endorsement. We value the trust of our readers, viewers and subscribers. We believe in honesty of relationship and opinion. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are 100% ours.