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,
I see that this recipe only requires 125g of butter for the sponge. Usually the butter, sugar and flour are in equal quantities so I just wondered why these aren’t? Is it because you’re adding the dates/treacle?
Thanks,
Molly
A sticky toffee sponge is completely different to a basic sponge, so the recipe is correct as it is xx
Hello – could I half the sponge recipe and make these mini sticky toffee cakes (similar to your Mini Victoria Sponges – which turned out amazing 😃)
Yes! It may make more than 12 though x
Hello! If I was to colour the buttercream with blue colouring- would it work? Making this for my Dad who is an avid fisherman and want to make a themed cake, making the buttercream as a “pond”? Thank you! Xxx
The colour of the frosting is quite a deep colour, so it may be a bit tricky to get it to the blue (because the starting colour isn’t white) x
That’s what I thought! What do you reckon I could do as an alternative? Need to get my thinking cap on! Xx
You could maybe use some of the sauce and part of the buttercream in the middle of the cake, but then decorate with a plain/vanilla buttercream instead to get the blue colour? x
Me again!
Would the frosting ingredient quantity be enough to fill the middle, a crumb coat and an outer layer of frosting?
Then I’m going to do a small batch of vanilla buttercream for the top frosting and colour that!
Can’t wait to make this cake as I’ve used some of your other recipes which were lovely!
Thanks so much ❤️
I mean it should be, as I do like to put on a lot of frosting, so I reckon it would be fine!!! And I really hope it works for you!! xx
Hi Jane, amazing cake! Just wondering if this could be made into a gluten free version by substituting the self-raising flour for gluten free flour?
Thanks!
I haven’t tried this yet myself with this recipe, but it should be okay! Maybe some xantham gum would help x
Hi Jane, could this recipe be adapted to make mini cakes like your mini Victoria sponges? Or am I better sticking to halving the recipe to make cupcakes?
Hi Jane, Just wondering what type/brand cake tins do you use for your layer cakes? I’d like to buy a decent set for myself.
I use a variety at the moment – but I am working on a post for just that! X
Fantastic, our new favorite cake.
I made it for my husband’s birthday there was enough sauce and icing left over, so I made half the cake recipe and we had another (smaller) one. Yummy
Hi Jane! Would this work if I split the mixture into 3 20cm tins? If so, would the baking time be different?
Yes so the baking time would be less – I’m not sure how much less, but keep an eye on the cakes at about 25-30 minutes?
Hi, I love all the recipes of yours I’ve done so far. I’m looking forward to making this for my friends’ birthday. I’ve only been able to get hold of Deglet Nour dates- are these ok to use instead of the Medjool dates? I’ve never really used dates before, so I’m not sure! Thanks 😊
Yes so you can use other types of dates (just without stones in!) but I just prefer medjool is all! xx
Hi jayne cake looks incrdible!! could i do a caramel cheese frosting? Would that work!?
I made this recipe in the loaf version and it was delicious! It froze well too! Can I use the same recipe to make cupcakes instead of one big cake?
Yes! x
Hi Jane. I wanted to use this recipe to make a tall 6″ diameter cake. If I split this between 2 6″ tins and split and fill do you think it would make a tall cake?? So excited to make it!!
Nuala
Yes definitely – the sponges are quite deep as it is, so 6″ would be very very tall!