Golf course chefs explain how to replicate this delectable British dessert

Welcome to Clubhouse Eats, where we celebrate the game’s most delectable food and drink. Hope you brought your appetite.

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To the uninitiated, sticky toffee pudding is likely to be at least somewhat confusing. It most certainly is sticky. It’s also toffee-like with a rich and warm butterscotch sauce. But it’s not pudding, at least not by the American definition.

So what is sticky toffee pudding, you ask?

The classic British dessert is one that features a moist, sweet, date-infused sponge cake, which is typically soaked in — and covered by — the aforementioned sauce. It’s often served with a vanilla custard or ice cream. The dessert is one of those dishes that only impresses if it’s exceptionally made. A mediocre sticky toffee pudding will leave you wondering what all the fuss is about; but a sublime sticky toffee pudding will change your life.

Okay, we’ll turn down the hyperbole a bit. The dish almost assuredly won’t change your life. But it will change your perspective on a meal’s sweet ending. Case in point: I still vividly remember my first introduction to sticky toffee pudding almost 15 years ago. Needless to say, that discovery was made with a fantastic rendition, so much so that now I’ll never not order sticky toffee pudding if I see the dish on a dessert menu.

More recently, I enjoyed one of the best versions that I’ve ever had at the Slieve Donard in Northern Ireland. Naturally, I had to get the lowdown on what goes into a stellar sticky toffee pudding and what amateur bakers should know if they want to whip up a batch of sweet bliss at home.

“The cake will only ever be the sum of its ingredients,” says Karl Thompson, the culinary director of White Rabbit Projects, a hospitality group that manages the food and beverage operations for the property, not to mention most of the other historic golf hotels that make up the Marine & Lawn portfolio. “So source the best quality ingredients you can afford, especially plump dates from a Middle Eastern deli. They’ll add more complex toffee flavor to the sponge.” 

Food

Thompson also advises home bakers to precisely measure all ingredients separately and to always use room temperature eggs and butter. That allows the cake mix to blend more cohesively. Don’t forget about the marriage of toffee sauce and cake at the end of the process, too. “It’s essential that once the pudding is baked, you allow it to soak up a small amount of the sauce,” he says. “This adds a delicious moisture to the finished pudding.”

Perhaps not surprisingly, Thompson clung to his recipe with a white-knuckle grip, so we can’t share with you step-by-step instructions for recreating Slieve Donard’s sticky toffee pudding. Fortunately, Bret Young, the executive chef at Contra Costa Country Club in Pleasant Hill, Calif., was more forthcoming with the recipe that he uses (see below).

“I love its warmth and richness,” he says, “and our members like the complexity of flavors and the fact that it’s decadent but not overbearing. It’s one of my go-to favorites for special events, like bourbon dinners, especially during the fall and winter.”

Contra Costa Country Club’s Sticky Toffee Pudding

Ingredients:

12 oz. pitted dates
1.25 lbs. water
2 tsp. baking soda
4 oz. butter, softened
12 oz. brown sugar
4 eggs
12 oz. all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. ground cinnamon

Preparation:

Place the dates in a large mixing bowl, then bring the water to a boil.

Pour the water over the dates to soften, then transfer to a blender and blend until smooth. Transfer the mixture back to the large bowl.

Add the baking soda to the blended mixture and whisk to combine. (Only add baking soda after the mixture has been blended.)

Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and brown sugar, add the eggs, mix until well combined, then fold in the date mixture.

Sift the flour, baking powder and cinnamon, then fold into the batter.

Portion the batter into greased ramekins and bake at 325 degrees until a skewer comes out clean (about 12 minutes).   

Contra Costa Country Club’s Toffee Sauce

Ingredients:

1.25 cup butter
1.25 cup heavy cream
2.5 cup brown sugar

Preparation:

In a sauce pot, combine cream and butter and heat slowly until the butter completely melts.

Whisk in the brown sugar.

Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat and let it simmer until it thickens (about 10 minutes).

When thickened, remove the mixture from the heat and allow it to cool to room temperature.