Pecan Smoked Sticky Toffee Pudding Recipe

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This twist on the classic sticky toffee pudding perfectly balances sweetness with smokiness. We've used pecan liquid smoke to create a tangy, outdoor smoky flavour with a hint of nuttiness. Just a few drops of liquid smoke transform the sticky toffee sauce with a sweet-spicy smoke flavour.

The dessert is irresistible on its own, but for some extra indulgence serve with a drizzle of double cream or vanilla ice cream. The ultimate in comforting winter desserts - this smoked sticky toffee pudding is best served after a night of fireworks, bonfires and outdoor fun. The sauce and sticky toffee puddings can be cooked a few hours in advance. Reheat the puddings in a warm oven, and the sauce on the hob just before serving.

You can also cook the puddings as a steamed pudding in one large pudding basin. Instead of the individual pudding moulds, grease and pour into a large pudding basin. Prepare the pudding for steaming with the help of this video, and steam for 4-5 hours until a skewer comes out clean (approx 2 hours in a pressure cooker) or a thermometer reads over 80 degrees Centigrade. The pudding can be cooked in advance and warmed through in a medium oven before serving.

For added theatre, pour a little rum over the pudding and light it to 'flame' just before serving. Serve the sauce separately from a jug at the table.

For the sticky toffee puddings Serves: 8

250g dates, stoned and roughly chopped
150ml boiling water
125g unsalted butter, softened
75g caster sugar
100g muscovado sugar
½ tsp vanilla paste
3 eggs
175g self raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
Pinch of salt
75g pecans, roughly chopped (optional)

For the pecan liquid smoke toffee sauce

220g double cream
150g light brown sugar
75g unsalted butter, and a little extra for greasing
Pinch of salt 3-4 tsp pecan liquid smoke

Equipment

8 individual pudding basins or dariole moulds

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 180 °C/350F/Gas 4 and grease the moulds with a little butter or vegetable oil.
To prepare the batter, begin by soaking the dates in 150ml boiling water.
Cream together the butter, caster sugar, muscovado sugar and vanilla paste. Beat in the eggs one at a time.
Fold in the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and salt. Strain the dates, and stir the dates and half the chopped pecans into the batter mixture. Combine well.
Pour the batter into the greased moulds, and fill to within 2 cm of the top of the moulds.
Bake for 20-25 minutes until firm to the touch.
Whilst the puddings bake, make the sauce. Heat the cream, sugar, butter and salt in a heavy-bottomed pan. Bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Stir in 3tsp liquid smoke. Taste and add a further teaspoon if required.
To turn the puddings out onto plates, gently run a knife around the edge of each one and turn out. Pour over the toffee sauce and a sprinkling of chopped pecans.

About the author

Nicola Lando is the co-founder and CEO of Sous Chef, where she has spent more than a decade sourcing, tasting and selecting specialist ingredients, cookware and tableware from producers around the world.

She trained at Leiths and later completed a stage at a Michelin-starred London restaurant, experiences that helped shape Sous Chef’s original mission: to give home cooks access to the same exceptional ingredients used by professional chefs.

Today, Nicola leads much of Sous Chef’s product sourcing and ingredient selection, working directly with producers and travelling internationally to food fairs, farms, mills and manufacturers. She tastes thousands of products each year and has built deep expertise across storecupboard ingredients, olive oil, condiments, spices, preserved foods and specialist cooking ingredients.

She holds an olive oil sommelier certification from ESAO in Spain, Imperial Executive Education’s Certificate in Nutrition for Health: Evidence-Based Tools and Strategies certificate; as well as studying Food Safety and Control at University of Greenwich.

Nicola also writes recipes and ingredient guides for Sous Chef, combining practical cooking experience with first-hand knowledge from producers, suppliers and specialist food makers. Her work focuses on helping cooks understand how to choose better ingredients, use them well, and get more flavour from their cooking.