Classic British Sticky Toffee Sauce
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Sticky Toffee Sauce is best known for its marriage to Sticky Toffee Pudding. But let’s not draw the line there. This classic British sauce is so easy to make and even easier to use – with just about anything. All you need is 4 easy ingredients and 15 minutes of time.
Making Sticky Toffee Sauce is not to be confused with making a Caramel Sauce. In fact, Sticky Toffee Sauce is so much easier to make and requires less watching, less dangerous sugar temperatures and less hardened caramel sticking to spoons and saucepans - so it’s easier to clean up after!!
You only need:
- 4 ingredients.
- a saucepan.
- a spoon.
- and about 15 minutes of time.
I’ll show you how easy it is to make this Sticky Toffee Sauce and how it can be used for a lot more than drenching your Sticky Toffee Pudding.
Make a batch of it this weekend for pouring over your porridge, yoghurt, pancakes and bowls of ice cream this week.
Why You’ll Love This Sticky Toffee Sauce
- You only need 4 ingredients.
- Quick and easy to make.
- Deep rich treacly flavour.
- So versatile – I can think of 100 uses for it.
- Stores well in your fridge for up to a week.
- Perfect for Sticky Toffee Pudding (of course!).
Ingredients Needed
Unsalted butter. We need unsalted so we can control the salt content of the recipe. Make sure it is at room temperature.
Dark Brown sugar. I experimented with Dark Brown Muscovado Sugar and Light Brown Sugar. The sauce works with any brown sugar. Regular brown sugar though just gives lovely gentle molasses flavour. If you are using muscovado then you can use just 1 teaspoon of black treacle and if you are using light brown then you might like to add a couple more teaspoons.
Double cream. You can substitute heavy cream or a plant-based alternative.
Black treacle. I tried making this sauce with and without black treacle and oh my gosh – the difference using black treacle!! The flavour is incredible. If you don’t have it then you can substitute for dark molasses (although the flavour isn’t quite as deep or nuanced).
How To Make Sticky Toffee Sauce
For full recipe instructions go to the recipe card at the end of this post.
Melt the butter in a small/medium saucepan. Whisk in the brown sugar and continue whisking until the sugar has dissolved and the sauce is smooth. It should take about 3-5 minutes.
Pour in the double cream slowly and whisk in to combine. Once hot (not boiling), stir in the black treacle until melted. Then remove from the heat and the sauce is ready to serve.
Expert Tips
Really, the only thing that you could mess up here is not cooking the sauce enough so that the sugar dissolves. To avoid that then make sure the heat is low-medium and keep whisking until the sauce feels a bit lighter and very smooth. Taste to make sure (it’s a hardship!)
You can use the sauce straight away if using for a Sticky Toffee Pudding or pour into an airtight container (allow to cool first) for later useage.
The sauce thickens as it cools so if you want to use it to spread between layer cakes then allow the sauce to cool completely before storing in an airtight container in the refrigerator overnight to chill and set.
Sticky Toffee Sauce Uses
- Pour over Sticky Toffee Pudding.
- Drench into bowls of ice cream.
- Ladle over any dessert from Apple Crumble to Cheesecake.
- Drizzle over a stack of pancakes or waffles.
- Glaze a freshly baked Banana Bread.
- Spoon into meringue nests and top with cream.
- Use to make Sticky Toffee Buttercream.
- Spread on crumpets.
- Layer between layers of Sponge Cake (you need the sauce to be chilled for this once so it’s lovely and thick).
- Use in a Sticky Toffee Pavlova recipe!
FAQs
You need to melt the sugar for a bit longer, the graininess means the sugar hasn’t dissolved. Heat slowly until smooth.
Pour the sauce into an airtight container and store in the fridge where it will keep well for up to 1 week.
Pour the sauce back into the saucepan and heat on a low/medium heat, stirring frequently. You rarely want the sauce piping hot so just heat for a minute until the sauce is warm, smooth and runny again.
Yes, allow the sauce to cool completely, then pour into an airtight container and freeze for up to 2 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and re-heat as above (if you want it warm).
This recipe makes about 600g which is easily enough for pouring over a family sized Sticky Toffee Pudding.
Yes, you just need to substitute the butter for your favourite plant-based alternative. And my favourite swap for double cream is Double Cre&m by Coconut Collab. The flavours will be slightly different as you’d expect but still scrummy.
Recipe Variations
You can have a great time with this sauce and vary the flavours depending on what you want to serve it with.
Salted Sticky Toffee Sauce. If you are a Salted Caramel fan then you could add salt to Sticky Toffee Sauce too – start at ¼ teaspoon – you can always add more if you like a really salty kick.
Boozy Sticky Toffee Sauce. Once you take your sauce off the heat you can go crazy. 1-2 tablespoons of your favourite booze will perk this sauce up no end. Try Bourbon, Rum, Baileys, Amaretto or even a bit of Malibu!
Sticky Toffee Orange Sauce. I add a bit of orange zest into my Sticky Toffee Pudding – you can also add a little bit of orange zest into the sauce – it goes so well.
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Classic British Sticky Toffee Sauce
Ingredients
- 200 g unsalted butter
- 140 g dark brown sugar
- 240 g double cream
- 2 teaspoons black treacle
Instructions
- Melt the butter in a small/medium saucepan over a low/medium heat.
- Whisk in the brown sugar and continue whisking until the sugar has dissolved and the sauce is smooth. It should take about 3-5 minutes.
- Pour in the double cream slowly and whisk in to combine.
- Once hot (not boiling), stir in the black treacle until melted. Then remove from the heat and the sauce is ready to serve.
Notes
- The sauce is best served warm (rather than piping hot).
- You can chill the sauce in the refrigerator if you want to use it for layering or spreading.
- You can substitute the black treacle for molasses.
- This recipe makes about 600g which is easily enough for pouring over a family sized Sticky Toffee Pudding.
- Store: Pour the sauce into an airtight container and store in the fridge where it will keep well for up to 1 week.
- Dairy-Free: substitute the butter for your favourite plant-based alternative. And my favourite swap for double cream is Double Cre&m by Coconut Collab.
- You can download a free PDF of my Gluten-Free Sticky Toffee Pudding recipe.
