Sticky Toffee Cake!
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A gloriously delicious two-layer sticky toffee cake with a homemade toffee sauce, toffee buttercream frosting and more! heaven on a plate!
Sticky toffee cake
I’m in the mood to give you guys another very well requested recipe… and here it is. After the downright delicious success of my sticky toffee loaf cake, I had SO many requests for a layer cake version!
This is a very straight up variation on my loaf cake version – but obviously just changed slightly to fit round tins! The wonderful thing really about converting loaf cakes to round cakes is that they tend to switch quite well, it’s just the baking time that changes.
Dates
Now, THIS IS IMPORTANT. That needs the capitals because… I know I will get some people having a moan about the medjool dates. I will say this here, and later on, and probably again, but PLEASE USE THEM. You can use any dates as well, regular dates, medjool dates, or pre chopped dates – I just prefer the taste of medjool.
I know that not everyone likes dates, but for that very reason… these are blended to a puree. There are no lumps of date, there is nothing lumpy at all – and it just honestly makes the flavour SO MUCH BETTER. Please, use them. You can’t just leave them out either as that will mess up the recipe.
Treacle
After that – the black treacle. This may have different names in different countries – but it really is a black coloured thick syrup/treacle substance – and it’s really quite bitter on it’s own. However, mixing that with the rest of the ingredients gets THE taste you are after!
If you can’t access it, you can use your nearest alternative (that again depends on where you are) – but for example you can use golden syrup in the UK. It does result in a lighter and less sticky toffee flavour and colour, but otherwise – it’s the best substitute.
Bake
The mixture is quite a runny mix, but that’s okay! It’s got a lot of ingredients in comparison to a normal cake batter – but it’s 100% worth it! You just need to split it evenly between two tins, and bake.
I went for two 8″/20cm round tins for this, rather than a three later version like some of my other cakes because this cake is rich and has such a deep flavour, that two-layer is definitely plenty enough for me.
Sauce
For the sauce, you can easily cheat and use shop bought toffee sauce if you prefer, there’s definitely nothing wrong with that! However, I just adore the homemade sauce. It’s smooth, it’s delicious and it’s so easy to make!
Add the ingredients to a pan, melt, boil for a short while, and leave to cool. So simple, so worth it. Again, you can substitute the black treacle for golden syrup here, but the colour/flavour will change again! I do also recommend the dark brown sugar for both the cake and sauce again for flavour and colour
Buttercream
For the buttercream, you want to use block butter. The kind you get wrapped in foil – not a spread. Because you are adding in a liquid, the sauce, you want the firmness of the butter. Let the butter be at room temperature before starting, it makes it easier! Add in the icing sugar, beat, and then add in the sauce, and beat again.
Slather it on the cakes, or pipe – and you’ll have the most epic cake. Drizzle on some extra sauce, because why not?! Add some sprinkles, add whatever you want.
Tips & Tricks
I love to serve this with a scoop of vanilla or clotted cream ice cream, or when I want something really delicious and filling, some custard! Of course, it’s perfect on it’s own though. I hope you love this recipe!
- This cake will last for 3-4+ days at room temperature
- You can freeze the cake for 3+ months
- The sauce will last for 3 days in the fridge if made separately
- You can use shop bought toffee sauce if you want
- The black treacle can swap to golden syrup
- The dark brown sugar can swap to light brown soft sugar
- I use these cake tins in my bake
- I use this piping tip for the decoration
- I use these piping bags for the buttercream
- I use these piping bags for the drizzle
Sticky Toffee Cake!
Ingredients
For the Sponge
- 250 g medjool dates (I weighed with stones in)
- 1.5 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 180 ml boiling water
- 125 g unsalted butter
- 225 g dark brown sugar
- 4 medium eggs
- 250 g self raising flour
- 125 g black treacle
- 1.5 tsp vanilla extract
For the Sauce
- 150 ml double cream
- 1 tbsp black treacle
- 75 g dark brown sugar
- 50 g unsalted butter
For the Buttercream
- 200 g unsalted butter
- 400 g icing sugar
- 85 g sticky toffee sauce (above)
Decoration
- Sprinkles
- Fudge pieces
- Sticky toffee sauce (above)
Instructions
For the Sponge
- Preheat your oven to 180ºc/160ºc fan and line two 8"/20cm round cake tins with parchment paper!
- De-stone the dates, and chop up into quarters.
- Add them to a bowl, along with the bicarbonate of soda and the boiling water and leave to sit for 10 minutes. Once sat, blitz the mixture into a puree with a food processor, or blender until smooth
- Add your unsalted butter to a bowl, along with the dark brown sugar and beat until combined and smooth
- Add the eggs into the mixture one at a time, and beat in each time.
- Add in the flour, treacle, vanilla and pureed date mixture and beat again until smooth
- Pour the mixture into the tin, and bake the cake in the oven for 35-40 minutes, or until baked through! I test with a skewer, and listen for the cake to make no sounds
- Once baked, leave the cake to cool for 10 minutes in the tin, and then leave to cool fully on a wire rack.
For the Sauce
- Whilst the cake is baking... make the sauce!
- Add all the ingredients into a pan, and heat on a low heat till the butter has melted, and everything is mixed in.
- Bring the mixture to the boil and boil for 1 minute.
- Once the mixture has boiled, remove from the heat and leave the sauce to cool fully. Stir occasionally so a skin isn't formed
For the Buttercream
- Add your butter to a bowl or stand mixer and beat on it's own for about 3-5 minutes until smooth and supple.
- Add in the Icing Sugar and beat in until fully mixed in
- Add in the cooled sticky toffee sauce and mix again, until delicious and perfect.
For the Decoration
- Using your favourite piping tip, pipe your sticky toffee buttercream onto the cake!
- Drizzle the cake with some more sticky toffee sauce, and then sprinkle with your favourite sprinkles!
Notes
- This cake will last for 3-4+ days at room temperature
- You can freeze the cake for 3+ months
- The sauce will last for 3 days in the fridge if made separately
- You can use shop bought toffee sauce if you want
- The black treacle can swap to golden syrup
- The dark brown sugar can swap to light brown soft sugar
- I use these cake tins in my bake
- I use this piping tip for the decoration
- I use these piping bags for the buttercream
- I use these piping bags for the drizzle
ENJOY!
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J x
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Hi Jane
Is there any way I could do flax eggs instead as my little one is allergic to eggs x
Hey! That should be okay for this! x
I made this cake for a friends birthday today and she loved it!! Go easy on the black treacle in the toffee sauce (I went a bit overboard) and it does make the sauce bit bitter. So I made it correctly second time lol. Thanks so much again Jane! I wish I could send you a pic!!
Amazing cake, infact my husband and kids have dubbed it ‘The Best Cake Of All Time, EVER!’. BUT, I’ve made it three times now and every time it’s sunk slightly in the middle? Any idea why? I follow the recipe exactly. X
Hey! Ahh amazing haha! And cakes sinking usually means the oven is opened too early, or not baked for long enough! Baking times can vary due to ovens varying so much! x
Can i halve the recipe to make one 8inch sandwich tin size?
The sponge is a potentially deeper than a sandwich size, but you can half for one sponge.
This looks amazing! Would it work divided into cupcakes?
Thanks! And yes, half the recipe makes about 12 cupcakes!
Thanks Jane, will give it a try! Would the oven temperature and time be the same?
Same temperature, timings about 20-22 minutes!
I’m not a big fan of dates so is the taste of dates strong? As I know you said you have to use them.
No it’s not – it honestly just tastes like sticky toffee pudding!
Hi Jane, what piping tip did you use for piping your buttercream?
2d closed star! x
Hi Jane, I’ve got ready chopped dates to use up. How much would you reduce the quantity by to account for the stones? Do you think using 200g would be about right?
The stones don’t typically weigh that much for me, so probably about 225-240g! x
Just got the bits needed to make this and have gone for a different type of date as no Medjool. But they have no stones in them. What weight of dates sha’ll I use? Or shall I just go for 250g? Stickier sounds good to me!
Yes, they should still be fine – just follow the same process! (The stones don’t weigh that much, probably only about 10g or so so the full weight should be fine!)
Hi Jane, I am struggling to get my hands on dark brown sugar, do you have an alternative?
Thanks 🙂
The next best is light brown sugar, but the flavour will be lighter and not as toffee – and caster sugar would also work, but that’s even lighter haha!
Hi Sarah, not a brilliant substitute but warm the equivalent caster sugar and stir through a couple of tablespoons of black treacle, keep mixing till you have an even colour. It does work.
I tried this and it came out exactly as your pics… Delicious
Can this be turned into a 3 layer by adding another half of all ingredients? Or would you recommend another way?
Yes definitely – that would work well! It’s just a very large cake! x