A vegan-take on the classic sticky toffee pudding with caramel-like dates, brown sugar, spices, and a hint of ginger, all topped with the creamiest 4-ingredient vegan toffee sauce.

Sticky toffee pudding is an absolute classic dessert. Rich, comforting, unequivocally naughty – and yet light and spongy enough to leave you satisfied without feeling like you’ve over-indulged.

I first made this vegan sticky toffee pudding recipe as a dessert for Christmas day. For the traditionalists, I made a vegan Christmas pudding (a very boozy Christmas pudding at that!), but for those who abhor raisins and other kinds of fruit in their pudding, sticky toffee pudding was the alternative.

Now, let me tell you some things about this pudding.

It’s sweet. It’s sticky. It’s oh-so-soft and spongy. It’s packed with nature’s gift, Medjool dates, for a natural caramel flavour, with cinnamon, mixed spice, and candied ginger giving it a subtle hint of spice.

Finally, it’s topped with the smoothest, creamiest, most indulgent vegan toffee sauce – easily whipped up with just four ingredients!

Making a vegan sticky toffee pudding

I would highly recommend making your sticky toffee pudding in a pudding basin – just make sure the one you get is suitable for going in the oven.

Being able to turn your pudding out of the basin once cooked is essential, so make sure you grease the basin well. I also recommend cutting a small circle of parchment paper and placing that at the bottom of your basin. Then, place another circle of parchment paper on top of your pudding mix once it’s in the basin, before covering with foil and baking.

To make the pudding, you start by soaking your chopped dates in hot water. This softens the dates and really draws out that sweet, caramel flavour.

Next, in a separate mixing bowl, you’ll cream together your sugar and melted (but cooled) coconut oil, before adding the black treacle, spices, bicarbonate of soda, and self-raising flour.

Then, stir in the plant-based milk, chopped candied ginger, and ginger syrup.

Finally, you’ll add the date and water solution and your apple cider vinegar. The apple cider vinegar is crucial for getting that spongy, dessert-cake texture for your pudding. It reacts with the raising agents in the batter, making it instantly have a fluffier, airy feel – super cool! If you don’t add the vinegar the cake will still be good, but it will be much denser.

Once made, you simply wrap your pudding basin in foil and bake for around 50 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean.

Pre-making your sticky toffee pudding

The last thing anyone wants when hosting a dinner party is to be whipping up a cake from scratch while your guests sit in the next room!

This vegan sticky toffee pudding recipe is perfect for making a day or two ahead. Simply wrap in fresh foil and store in a cool place.

Then, reheat in a low oven for 30 – 40 minutes, and warm your toffee sauce on the hob before pouring over the pudding and serving!

Making sticky toffee pudding vegan

I found this classic recipe really easy to vegan-ize.

Instead of butter, I used coconut oil. I’ve also tried the recipe with vegan butter which works great, although it did make the pudding very soft – almost too soft, it’s fine if that’s all you’ve got in the cupboard, though!

Equally, this recipe uses plant-based milk such as soy or almond milk instead of cow’s milk.

Aside from that, the ingredients are pretty much exactly the same as you’d find in a traditional sticky toffee pudding, ensuring the taste of this recipe is true to a traditional recipe!