June 6, 2020
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!
Tins
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!
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.
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!
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!
Decoration
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!
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! X
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 180C/160C Fan and line two 8"/20cm round cake tins with parchment paper!
- De-stone your medjool 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!
- Enjoy!!
Notes
- You MUST use the dates! They are pureed, there are no nasty lumps - and they make the cake SO MUCH BETTER.
- If you can't access treacle, you can use golden syrup - the taste and look will be different though!
- This cake will last in for 3-4 days once made! If you store it in the fridge, the sponge may dry out a little, but it'll still be damn tasty!
- You can buy some Toffee Sauce to use instead, but I always think the homemade kind is better!
- I used a 2d closed star piping tip for the decoration!
- This is inspired by my sticky toffee loaf cake!
- You can easily make one layer by halving the recipe!
ENJOY!
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J x
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Hi Jane, this is one of my families favorite bakes! I have made it quite a few times for events. I was wondering what the timings would be and the oven temperatures if I was to make them in a muffin size tin?
Awesome recipe…followed to the letter (except for forgetting to add treacle into cake mixture…so just swirled into mixture in tins & no one notice,haha!).
I would this cake be stable enough to cover with fondant if I did a basic vanilla crumb coat but kept with the sticky toffee buttercream inside. Wanting 3 layers
Hiya! This should be fine, as long as the sponge is chilled well before decorating. Hope this helps! x
Hi Jane, thank you for your lovely recipe. If I’m going to half the sponge mixture to just make one sponge should I adjust the cooking time? Would you also recommend halving the buttercream and toffee sauce?
Hiya! This should be fine – the baking time will stay the same. I would personally also halve the buttercream and sauce! Hope this helps! x
Hello!
Just made this recipe, cake smells Devine but it sunk in the middle, any idea why? I’m going to just do a surprise middle with a bit of the sauce and some fudge but would love to know for next time, thank you!
Hiya! This sounds like it was sadly either under baked, or the raising agents were slightly over measured. Hope this helps! x
Thank you so much for this recipe I made it for my grandads birthday and he absolutely loved it and the sauce is easy and simple to make. It was so soft and moist thank you so much would this work as being a loaf or cupcakes?
Thank you so much, so glad he loved it! Take a look at my Sticky Toffee Loaf cake recipe! Hope this helps! x
I could not find Black Treacle. and i tried to find molasses. Can i use honey instead ?? or any other thing??
Love this cake! Made it once before and had loads of compliments 🙂
Looking to make it again but with fondant icing so I will need firmer butter cream I assume. Do you think it would be best to make 2 batches of buttercream and put the one with the toffee sauce in the middle and just use plain buttercream for the crumb coat and final coat? Or is there more of an ingredient I can add to firm up the existing one?
Thanks!!
Thanks for this delicious cake recipe. Easy to follow and fantastic results, my kitchen smelled like a toffee shop! The cake didn’t last too long. This is my second time baking it for my grandson, the first was a practice as it was a for a special occasion. I used unsalted plant based ‘butter’ as we have someone with a dairy intolerance, and it worked just as well 🙂
Hiya,
I’m going to bake this cake at the weekend.
The recipe calls for double cream – would I be able to use Elmlea for this?
Thanks
Yes that should be okay! Enjoy! x
Hi, Could you use date syrup rather than making date puree?
Best cake recipe I have ever used!
Hi! Just baked the sponge and it smells amazing! Just wondered if I can save the sauce to assemble the next day? Thank you! Xx
Yes absolutely you can! You can even freeze the sauce and/or the cake for up to 3 months! Hope this helps x
Hi Jane. I have just made this cake for my husbands birthday and it’s turned out brilliantly! I did however have to use 2x 23cm tins as the 20cm tins were to small to accommodate all of the mixture and I worried it would spill out whilst baking! It’s worked out very well 😊 I’m a keen baker and he wanted a toffee fudge cake and I came across your recipe whilst searching for inspiration. This was my first toffee cake and based on the cake mixture, icing and toffee sauce I sampled along the way, I don’t think he’ll be disappointed! It tastes amazing already! Thanks for your recipe X
Well done you for noticing – it didn’t occur to me that the cake tin might be too small. I’ve got my cake in the oven at the moment in 8inch/20cm tins and it’s dripping over the side everywhere 😩
Hi Jane Looking forward to making this cake. Do I make second sauce to dizzle on top. Or leave some of the first one.
Sarah
Hiya! Just the one sauce – it will be plenty for the buttercream and drizzling! Hope this helps! x
I pretty much made this as per recipe, but had to use 3 shallow cake tins, as that was all I had. The cake was a HUGE success. Thank you.
I made half the sponge mixture and used it for a sticky toffee trifle last Christmas – everybody loved it! I made the sauce and put some in the base, added the sponge then covered it in the rest of the sauce, added custard and whipped cream then put tiny cubes of fudge on the top. Just came to the recipe so I can make it again next week!
Hi, can the sponge be frozen? Thanks
Yes it can!
Hi. Can I use stork in the cake rather than butter?
Hiya! Yes you absolutely can in the sponge! Stick to unsalted butter in the buttercream frosting however. Hope this helps! Team Jane x
Can I use this recipe for 2x 23 cm tins?
No – you would need to increase the recipe by 1/3!
Hi Jane, could I make this gluten free by just swapping the flour? Thanks!
We get neither treacle nor golden syrup in my country. Can I use date syrup instead?
Hey,
This cake looks amazing! I would love to make this for my mum’s birthday so I was wondering if there is any way to make it diabetic friendly?
Thanks
Hi Jane, I was wondering if the fudge pieces could be added to the cake mixture?
If so, how much would I add and would they need to be frozen beforehand.
Many thanks
Hey jane I remember this recipe had milk and baking powder in it but its not longer listed on the recipe?
This recipe hasn’t changed!
Hello, firstly I love all your recipes. You are my go to website whenever I need to bake so thank you for being so amazing. I am currently trying to decide what cake to make for my sons birthday and this one sounds amazing. Do you think it would work if I used ready to roll icing on it (wanted a to make a hey duggee scene as my son will be 3) or would it be weird? Thank you. X
Hiya! Aww thank you so much that has made my day! It may turn out a bit weird but it might be okay if its chilled before hand x
I decided against using rolled icing and followed your recipe exactly. It turned out brilliantly. Such a delicious cake, everyone loved it. Thank you so much for all of your amazing recipes and the way you explain how to make them. It’s so easy to follow each step, and you are really responsive to people’s messages and questions which makes it even more fantastic. I’d recommend everyone to give this cake a go. You won’t be disappointed.
I made this cake for a friend’s birthday. It was delicious! Worked a treat.
Yayy I am so glad you loved it xx
Can this cake be made in advance and frozen?
Could the Sauce wirh this be used as a Drip ontop if I Buttercream the whole cake?
Yes it can be – it can run quite far though so you don’t want to pour over too much! x
Can this cake be made in advance and frozen?
Yes it can be xx
Instead of using black treacle could I use molasses?
Hello! Yeah it’s worth a go xx
Could you make it into cupcakes just using this mixture?
Hi, how could I make this into a 9” 4 layer drip cake?
Thanks
I’m making this for my mams birthday next week. I’m wanting to make it 3 layers and cover it in the toffee buttercream. Also thinking of doing a drip with the toffee sauce. Do you think this would work well
Hey, yes this should work but the buttercream etc is softer so you may not get a completely smooth finish xx
Hello, unfortunately, I can’t have dates but would love to make this cake. Do you think it will work if I remove the dates, or would I need to adjust the other quantities?
Thank you, Becky
Hi, this sounds amazing , but I’m just wondering could I put a layer of sliced pears and a sprinkling of light brown sugar on the base of one of the baking tins then top with the batter, like an upside down pear sticky toffee cake? And also i will be making g these layers the day before I fill and decorate so they will be nice and chilled, I’m just wondering could I put whipped cream in between the 2 layers as my daughter is not a fan of buttercream?
Hello! Unfortunately I have never tried this so I cannot advise but it is definitely worth a go!xx
This recipe is truly one of the best cake recipes I have ever done, it’s an absolute winner !
This looks amazing!! I really want to make this for my friends birthday in the same style. Could I make the sponge vegan by replacing the eggs with the equivalent in flax egg and the butter with vegan butter? ❤️
Hii! I have not tried this myself but its definitely worth a go! Good luck x
I made this for my mother in-law’s birthday last year and it was honestly one of the best cakes I’ve ever made! So much so, I’m making it again but this time for my father in-law! Haha. I would like to make it into a 3 tiered cake, would I need to increase the ingredients by a third? Thank you for this amazing recipe 🙂
I can’t wait to make this!!! What weight would you need of dates if they have their stones removed?
I would just use the same x
I don’t usually leave reviews but this cake is amazing, and the recipe is really well written, very clear. My husband loved his birthday cake! I reduced the amount of sugar slightly and it was perfect for us. Thank you! x
Hi Jane, I love all your recipes and am going to bake this cake. Your recipe states 85g for the toffee sauce. Do you mean 85ml and how do you weigh it out?
I weigh it to grams x
Absolutely delicious. Genius! Thank you for sharing!
Hi. Can you tell me do you use all the sauce for the buttercream
No you don’t – the amount used for the buttercream is listed, any spare can be served with the cake!
This was my husbands first attempt at baking a cake, as I was unable to do the mixing, it was for my Daughters birthday , I thought I’d surprise her with a visit. The cake looked amazing , we’ll certainly bake it again in the future. The recipe was easy to follow too, one husband very pleased with himself.
Hi Jane. I’m planning to make this for my partner for Valentine’s Day. I’m using love heart cake tins that are 23cm. Should I increase the recipe a bit, if so by how much? And how much would that affect the baking time! Thankyou so much. I’ve enjoyed making so many of your recipes and can’t wait to try this one out!
Heart tins of about 9″ I often find fit to the volume of an 8″ round – so I would stick as it is! x
Hi there,
When you say 2 x 8” tins would that be sandwich tins or are they too shallow? That’s all I have so just wanted to check before baking for my husbands birthday this coming Monday 😊 thanks
I generally avoid sandwich tins as they are too shallow! xx
Hi I was wondering if this recipe can be made using 9″ cake tins instead of 8″.?
Thanks.
I would recommend increasing the recipe by about 1/3 for 9″ tins x
Won’t the cake be tooo sweet with the dates and that amount of brown sugar. Will the cake be affected if I reduce the sugar to 150g
The cake texture may likely change if you change the recipe x
Hi, I was wondering if I could make this recipe in 2 9″ tins instead of 8″? ,if so should I adjust the recipe at all.
Thanks.
That usually means you need to increase the recipe by a bit – about a quarter to a third x
Made this recipe a few times and always loved it.
Want to make it in to a 4 tier cake
Would I just double the measurements?
Thanks
Yes!! x
Thank you so much for this recipe. I made it as birthday cake for my wife, I make her a cake every year, plus for special occasions etc. She’s just said it’s probably the best cake I’ve ever made! It is very good. It even looks like yours! Thanks again.
Hello! I was wondering if you could convert this recipe into US baking measurements?
Thank you!
Made this into 3 layers but they were slightly thinner. Absolutely amazing recipe as always!!
I made this into a sticky toffee trifle and it was amazing!
I halved the cake mix to make a single sponge, made a whole batch of the toffee sauce and poured it over the cooled sponge in the bottom of the trifle dish. When it had set, I poured on custard and whipped cream.
Everyone loved it – will definitely make it again! The sponge and sauce recipes are super easy and incredibly tasty. Thank you for sharing x
I’m thinking of baking this in 6″ tins – would this be same temperature and just less time??
You would need to reduce the recipe to about 2/3, and then yes less baking time!
I’ve made this today for my Dads birthday tomorrow and it’s slightly sunken in middle. It did make sound but appeared to be starting to over cook on edges so I took it out anyway… worried whether I should start again in morning now?!? I also googled date weight conversion and used 190g but see above you advised someone else to use same. Nervous!
The amount of date difference won’t have cause the problem – it maybe opening the oven too early, or the cake not being baked enough. It will be fine even if a little dipped! If you want to make it again, lower the temp and bake for longer x
Made this recipe into cupcakes for me and my sisters birthday and they went down a treat! Super super yummy!
I made this for my husband’s birthday and it turned out perfectly. Insta-worthy and all my friends were impressed! I used softened butter for both the sponge and buttercream – I think that’s right?
Yes so for the cake you can use a room temperature butter or baking spread, and for the frosting room temperature butter! x
Hey!
I was wondering if this could be made as a sheet cake? If so, is there anything major you could change?
Thanks 😊
Yes I’m sure that would be fine! I’m not 100% on timings, but I would use about a 9×13″ tray x
Can this recipe be made as a sheet cake??
Yes I’m sure that would be fine!
Hi Jane, I plan on making this cake this week for my birthday, and was just wondering if the dates used need to be fresh or whether dried dates can be used? Thanks😊
I use dried dates!
Thank you😊 the dried dates I have are already pitted, do you know roughly what weight is needed please? X
I would just use the same! x
Hi Jane,
The cake is currently in the oven. I’m making it for my dads birthday tomorrow.
Is it okay to do the toffee sauce the day before or is it best done on the day?
Thank you for an amazing recipe.
Either is fine – it lasts well for quite a few days x
Hi, this sounds amazing , but I’m just wondering could I put a layer of sliced pears and a sprinkling of light brown sugar on the base of one of the baking tins then top with the batter, like an upside down pear sticky toffee cake? And also i will be making g these layers the day before I fill and decorate so they will be nice and chilled, I’m just wondering could I put whipped cream in between the 2 layers as my daughter is not a fan of buttercream?
I baked this cake for my partners birthday and it was a massive hit – he’s already requested that I make it again!
The only thing I noticed was that my toffee sauce was very dark in color compared to the pictures (it almost looked like chocolate sauce). Any idea what I should do differently for next time?
Thanks!
It may just be the sugar or similar – but also my photos do have lights and editing naturally so I wouldn’t say the colour matters at all! xx
How long will the toffee sauce last for?
I would say about 5 days in the fridge! x
Hi Jane,
I would like to cover the cake with the buttercream and drip the sauce of the sides like a drip cake. Do you think that would work? (Would it effect the sponge and would the sauce be thick enough not to run straight down the sides, but stop halfway like it should with a drip?) Thank you!
I would personally say the sauce is too runny, and the buttercream isn’t the firmest either so it may not have the best drip cake results. It can certainly be worth a go, but I don’t want to promise that it will work! x
Hi, I would like to try this but I don’t have a food processor or blender, is there any way I could make this without it please?
You can chop and chop and chop the dates until they become a puree – soak them and remove them to chop, and then mix them back in with the water!
Hi Jane, just tried making this cake and the icing has gone horribly wrong! I followed the recipe exactly but the icing is so thin and runny. There is no way I can ice a cake with this. Do you know what I could’ve done wrong?
What exact type of butter did you use?
Hi Jane, now going to put this cake together, but it didn’t rise in the middle 😭, any part where I cud have gone wrong?
Usually it means it hasn’t bake for long enough, or a raising agent wasn’t measured correctly – as long as it’s baked enough now though, it’ll be fine to eat!
I love sticky toffee pudding and I love this cake. The flavour is sensational, the whole family loved it. Thank you.
Should you drain the dates before blending?
No, blend with the water!
Just making this now but my toffee sauce seems very thin, does it thicken up as it cools? Thanks!
It’s not an incredibly thick sauce, but it should thicken slightly when it cools yes x
Will be baking it for my boyfriends birthday as he absolutely loves sticky toffee pudding! Can I use deri dates instead of medjool?
Ahh yay! Yes, you can use any sort of date really! x
Hi Jane looking to make this recipe. I assume the sauce makes more than you need and wondered if sauce can be frozen 🤔
Yes it does, and yes it can!
Hi Jane ! Made this cake once and it was absolutely incredible! I have a birthday party next weekend and would like to make this cake into individual cupcakes instead . What quantities would I need ? ❤️
This can make about 24-30 cupcakes x
Hi Jane, thank you so much for this terrific recipe, halved it and made mini sticky toffee cakes, they were amazing.
Love all your recipes 😋
Ahh yay!!
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!
Hi Jane,
Your notes say that the cake will last for 3-4 days does this mean at room temperature in airtight container, or 3-4 days if kept in the fridge ?
Thanks
I keep it at room temp personally, but this one should be okay on the fridge on a really hot day!
Hi Jane, this cake looks amazing .. going to have a go tomorrow, just wanted to check with you how you do your caramel drizzle?! I made your no bake biscoff cheesecake and it tasted fantastic but my biscoff drizzle on the top didn’t look like yours! I used a spoon. Want to get it right for the toffee cake .. did you use a piping bag ? Thanks
So yes I often use a piping bag – but sometimes a spoon too! Piping bags definitely give more control I find! x
Hi, first of all I want to say I am absolutely in love with all your recipes!!!! Xxx I’m planning to make this cake over two days, would the butter cream keep well in the fridge to ice it the next day or would you suggest I make it fresh for when I’m using it? Xxxx
I would personally make the buttercream fresh, as you’d have to re-mix it anyway to decorate if made the day before! x
Hi Jane, do you have to peel the dates first or leave the skins on? I’ve made a sticky toffee pudding before that’s stated to take the skins off. Thanks :-). x
I don’t peel medjool dates personally – just follow the instructions to de-stone, soak and puree x
This cake is so, so , so good. I’ve made it as one cake and also made it as cup cakes. ALWAYS well received and really simple to make as well . . . Take the time to make the caramel sauce – sublime finishing touch!
Currently in the oven baking, it seemed a very loose batter and didn’t fill the tins as much as your other 8 inch sponges have I done something wrong?
Sticky Toffee cake batter is naturally runnier, as the ingredients are very very different – you just need to let it bake xx
Would this work with other dates than Medjool. I have a packet of Waitrose pitted dates and a block of Whitworths blocked stoned dates in my cupboard that I am looking to use. How much would I weigh out to account for the fact that they don’t have stones? Thank you.
I would still weigh out the same as the stones really don’t weigh too much! X
I don’t have self raising flour, if I use plain how much and what raising agent shall I use?? X
You typically use 2 level tsps baking powder per 150g of plain flour – whisk in before using! X
Would this work with sultanas/raisins instead of dates as I can’t find any anywhere😂
Unfortunately they won’t work in the same way, sorry! x
This is such a delicious cake, made this yesterday for the first time for a friends birthday and topped with chopped Cadbury fudge and curly wurlys! The cake turned out fab and every loved it! Thanks Jane!
Hi! Excited to make this for my dad for Father’s Day! Do you think it would work ok if I put all the mixture into a larger 28cm cake tin and then cut in half!? Or cook 1 at a time and them be thinner?
A 28cm is about double in volume, so I would simply bake it all in one go – the baking time is going to be quite a bit longer though! x
Hello, I was wondering if I could double the quantity and bake in a 9 x 13 traybake for a BBQ party on the weekend? Thanks so much
Hey! I would imagine this is probably enough for that already – maybe 1/4 more mix? But not double! x
I’ve just done pretty much that bit used 1.5 times the mixture. It’s still in the oven, but looking good 😋
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