Sticky Toffee Style Cake Recipe
A sticky toffee inspired sheet cake with a black treacle and date sponge, homemade toffee sauce and toffee buttercream topping!
This sticky toffee inspired sheet cake is a delicious bake inspired by the classic sticky toffee pudding dessert.
It has a brown sugar, black treacle and date puree sponge to give that moist and caramelised flavour, topped with my simple, microwave recipe, homemade toffee sauce and finished with a layer of toffee buttercream. It's so simple to make and tastes amazingly yummy!
It's dairy free, egg free, nut free, easily gluten free and of course, completely plant based!
This recipe makes one 7" x 11" sheet cake. It is best eaten within about four days while it is freshest. Store in an airtight container in a cool and dry place, or freeze the whole sponge or pre-cut slices for up to one month in the freezer.
The recipe is based on making one large sheet cake but you could make little individual cupcakes instead if you would like.
It is delicious as it is or you can also warm it slightly and serve with vegan ice cream or custard!
Makes one 7" x 11" sheet cake
Sponge ingredients;
200g dates - with stones removed
1 tsp baking soda
240g boiling water
375g plain flour
240g soft brown sugar
7g baking powder
3g baking soda
1 tsp vanilla powder
65g black treacle
110g sunflower oil
Toffee sauce ingredients;
90g vegan block butter
300g soft brown sugar
120g vegan cream
1 tbs black treacle
1/4 tsp vanilla powder
Buttercream ingredients;
325g icing sugar
125g vegan block butter
2 tbs toffee sauce – as above
1 tbs plant milk - if needed
You will also need; a mixing bowl, whisk, spoon, 7" x 11" baking tin, baking paper, electric hand whisk, small bowl, hand blender, straw or skewer, palette knife or butter knife
How to make your cake;
Add the dates, 1 tsp of baking soda and boiling water to a bowl and leave to soak for 15 minutes
Once the dates have soaked, blend them into a puree. You can choose whether to leave daye pieces or make it completely smooth
Pre heat the oven to 160°c and line your baking tin with baking paper
Add all the dry ingredients into the bowl, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and vanilla powder, and give them a quick whisk together
Add the date puree, black treacle and oil, and whisk again until there are no large lumps. Just whisk until everything is combined and be careful not to overmix
Pour the sponge batter into the baking tin and bake for around 25-35 minutes until golden. The sponge should feel soft but not wet
Set aside to cool
While the sponge is cooling, make the toffee sauce. Add the butter, sugar, treacle and cream in a microwaveable bowl and heat in one minute bursts, stirring in between, until everything has melted together
Stir the caramel, then heat again for another two minutes. The mixture should now be starting to bubble. Stir again, taking care as the the mixture will be very hot
Heat again for another two minutes to thicken the sauce. The sauce will thicken further as your stir it and it cools
Stir in the vanilla powder then set the sauce aside to slightly cool
Once the sponge and toffee sauce have cooled enough to handle, make your buttercream
Add the butter into a bowl and using an electric hand mixer, whip until light and fluffy
Add the icing sugar and toffee sauce, and mix again. The buttercream should be smooth and fluffy. If it is too thick, add a tbs of plant milk and mix again
Using a straw or skewer, prick small holes over the top of your cooled sponge
Spread over a generous layer of toffee sauce, so that it runs down into all of the holes. This should use up most of the toffee sauce. You can keep a few tbs back for decorating the top of the cake if you'd like
Using a palette knife or butter knife, spread over the buttercream topping
To decorate, use a small piping bag or spoon to drizzle over the remaining toffee sauce
Now your cake is ready to eat!
Tips & Tricks!
This is my 7" x 11" x 2" baking tin; https://amzn.to/45YU9Do
I used Rayner's Organic black treacle and Flora block butter
You can choose whether to leave little pieces of chewy date in your sponge or to completely blend the date puree smooth
If you want to make more of a traditional sticky toffee pudding cake, you can leave the buttercream topping off of the cake and just top with the toffee sauce. This works well if you are planning on serving the cake warm, as the sauce will go all melty and gooey!
An electric hand whisk is really needed to whip the buttercream. You may be able to whip it by hand with a large spoon or whisk but my arms are not strong enough for that! - https://amzn.to/3IgAt4O
To make your cake gluten free, use gluten free plain flour and add 1g of xantham powder for every 100g of flour. It doesn’t sound like much but it makes such a difference to the sponge texture!
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