You'll love the deep, dark, mellow flavours of this keto sticky toffee pudding. It has a moist, buttery cake base that's drenched in a deliciously gooey sugar free toffee sauce. Incredibly, one portion contains just 2.7g net carbs.
Today I’ve reinvented a classic! This healthy sticky toffee pudding recipe is grain free, keto friendly, sugar free and boy is it a good one.
Sticky toffee pudding is one of the Great British Desserts, alongside keto banoffee pie, keto toffee and of course, low carb Christmas pudding. It was made famous in the 70s by a hotel in the Lake District. The original base batter is made with plenty of dates, which, of course, are very high in carbs. (It's actually called sticky date pudding in some countries.)
And don't get me started on all the sugar the recipe requires as well!
To all my non-British readers - in the UK all desserts can be called "pudding". In fact, this keto sticky date pudding is a very moist cake, smothered in toffee sauce.
Ingredients
- Coconut flour and almond flour: These popular low-carb flours are naturally gluten-free. I used ground almonds, which is equivalent to regular almond flour. For super fine almond flour, reduce the amount by 1 tablespoon.
- Greek yoghurt: Makes the batter lighter in calories and texture. You can use plain natural yoghurt as well. Must be room temperature so the cake can rise.
- Eggs: I used large. Eggs should always be room temperature.
- Butter: For that proper sticky toffee taste.
- Cacao or unsweetened cocoa powder
- Brown sugar substitute: I used a brown erythritol monk fruit sweetener, which has a nice mellow brown sugar caramel taste.
- Vanilla, salt, baking powder
- Double cream (also called heavy cream)
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
Instructions
This section contains step-by-step instructions and photos that show how to make this recipe. See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities
Step 1: Whisk the egg yolks and sweetener until light and fluffy. Add the melted butter, yoghurt, vanilla and almond milk. Whisk again to combine.
Step 2: Stir together the dry ingredients.
Step 3: Beat the egg whites to soft peaks.
Step 4: Combine the dry and the wet ingredients. Then, fold through the egg whites with a spatula.
Step 5: Pour the batter into a prepared baking pan and level with a spatula. Bake until you can insert and remove a skewer without crumbs sticking.
Step 6: Melt the butter and sweetener in a pan, then add the cream. Bring to the boil, then simmer until golden. Last, stir in the vanilla extract. The toffee sauce thickens as it cools.
Step 7: Slice the cake and pour the sauce over while it is still hot. This way, it can seep into the sponge.
Serving Suggestion
Gluten free sticky toffee pudding is best served warm! For the ultimate comfort food experience, add a scoop of sugar free vanilla ice cream.
Recipe Tips
This recipe is all about getting the temperature of the cake and sauce just right. Here are my top tips:
Cake base
Don’t overcook as it will firm up as it cools and you don’t want it dry.
In my images both cake and sauce had cooled a little, which is the reason why the sauce did not drench the base. The cake is fragile when it's fresh out of the oven. Let it cool before you remove it from the pan and slice it. And then reheat the individual slices before you pour over the sauce.
Sauce
If your sauce is too thin keep cooking it as it will thicken. Just make sure you're using a low to medium heat so it does not burn.
If you want a toffee sauce that easily seeps through every pore of the cake, take it off the heat sooner so it stays more liquid.
For a sauce that does NOT re-crystallise at all once it cools, you must use allulose. Allulose is a great keto sweetener and makes incredibly smooth keto caramel sauce. Golden erythritol in the sauce works well as long as you enjoy it warm.
If your keto toffee sauce cools and hardens, simply reheat it on a low heat and whisk with a hand balloon whisk. If it looks like it’s splitting, don’t worry! Keep whisking and heating on low and it will come back together.
The sauce can be reheated several times.
Recipe FAQs
I added a touch of cacao. It's just enough to make it look like a proper sticky toffee pudding without tasting of chocolate.
I use a golden erythritol blend to bring home that traditional toffee caramel flavour. For the sauce, you can use either golden erythritol or allulose. Allulose does not re-crystallise, which makes the caramel extra smooth.
I have not tried this yet. It should work though - if you give it a go, let me know!
Storage
Store the keto sticky toffee pudding the fridge for up to 4 days or freeze (cake only) for up to 3 months.
Store the cake and sauce separately and reheat the sauce before serving.
Related Recipes
Tried this recipe? Give it a star rating below!
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Recipe
Keto Sticky Toffee Pudding (Without Dates)
from Sugar Free LondonerNote: The servings slider only changes the first amount in each line and not any subsequent amounts. Please make your own calculations where necessary.
Ingredients
BASE
- 3 large eggs separated, room temperature
- ¼ cup Greek yoghurt 62g, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ⅓ cup almond milk 80 ml, room temperature
- 3.5 tablespoon butter 50g, melted
- 2 tablespoon coconut flour 16g
- 1.5 cups almond flour 150g
- 1 tablespoon cacao 6g
- ½ cup golden erythritol 100g
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- Good pinch of salt
SAUCE
- 7 tablespoon butter 100g
- ⅓ cup golden erythritol or allulose
- ½ cup heavy cream 110g
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
BASE
- Preheat the oven to 180C / 160C fan / 350 Fahrenheit.
- Place the egg yolks and sweetener in a mixing bowl. Whisk using an electric whisk until lighter, 2 minutes. Add the melted butter, yoghurt, vanilla and almond milk. Whisk again to combine
- Add the dry ingredients to a mixing bowl. Stir to combine.
- Add the egg whites to a clean bowl and whisk until fluffy like soft peaks.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet and whisk with an electric whisk to combine. Don’t over beat.
- Fold through the egg whites with a spatula.
- Grease a baking dish with a generous amount of butter or line a baking pan (19 x 19 x3.5cm) with greaseproof paper. Pour the batter into the greased pan and level with a spatula.
- Bake for 30 - 35 minutes until you can insert and remove a skewer without crumbs sticking. Don’t overcook as it will firm up as it cools and you don’t want it dry.
SAUCE
- Add the butter, sweetener and cream to a pan. Allow to melt, bring the temperature to just under a boil then reduce to a low simmer and cook for about 10-12 minutes until golden in colour and thicker. Whisk using a hand balloon whisk a few times during cooking. Turn off the heat and stir through the vanilla. As it cools it will thicken.
- Slice the cake, reheat the individual slices and pour over the sauce while it's still hot.
Sarah Noke
Absolutely delicious recipe, really tastes like traditional sticky toffee pudding. Highly recommended
Lynds
Tried your recipe today and it was amazing!
I put a pan of water in the oven which made it
Steamy. Thank you so much! I got a thumbs up from all family
suzanne
Hi just wondering what sugar you used. I used Sukrin gold but afterwards i looked up the carbs and was concerned it was alot more total carbs. Thanks. The result was delicious in any event but just want to minimise carbs. i am on a low keto diet so i need to be below 20 total carbs.
Katrin Nürnberger
Sukrin gold is mainly erythritol which our bodies cannot absorb, which makes it zero effective carbs. The carbs listed are not used by the body.
Andrea
Can you use coconut cream in the sauce?
I've made this recipe a couple of times, the second time I put some spices into the cake to give it more of an authentic flavour and also added a bit of ground ginger to the sauce. It was delicious! Then, I'd been making a no bake sweet recipe with peanut butter, chocolate and coconut and added the remainder of the toffee sauce so it became a kind of fudge which turned out amazing. Because the sauce sets in the fridge it really makes it work!
Katrin Nürnberger
Yes, I think coconut cream works too. I have made keto caramel sauce with coconut cream before.
Marie Steffen
Can you please tell me where can I buy these things like golden erythritol, monk fruit etc in Switzerland?
Isla
I am a young girl who loves baking, and when I found out I had diabetes I was stuck for ideas. You helped me out and now I bake Keto recipes most week.
Nita
What size baking pan in inches?
Katrin Nürnberger
It's 7.5x7.5 inch
Jenny
Can I put extra almond flour and omit the coconut flour at all, or can I substitute flaxseed for the coconut flour?
Katrin Nürnberger
I think using more almond flour would work, although you may have to replace the coconut flour with 3x the amount of almond flour as it absorbs less moisture. Flaxseed may work, although I think this would alter the taste quite a bit.
Anu
Oh my goodness, this is SO RIDICULOUSLY GOOD! I've been wanting to make this recipe for absolute ages, but somehow never got around to it until today. What a way to end the weekend! This is honestly one of the best keto desserts I've ever had. I baked the base for 30 minutes in a 160 C fan oven, and that was just right. I used allulose for the caramel, cooking it for 12 minutes, and didn't change anything else in the recipe. I'd love to try this with a dollop of crème fraiche or clotted cream, or even with some homemade keto vanilla ice cream, but even on its own, this is spectacular! I would love to try this as baked doughnuts, with the caramel as a glaze... Next project! Thank you so much for a fabulous recipe, this made my heart sing :))
phyllis kyle
I love these keto recipes! I am a diabetic and now I can have lovely treats without my blood sugars rising. I have made most of the recipes and must say I have enjoyed every one of them. Thank you so much for these recipes.
Georgi L Wellington
Looks delish, my question is can Golden Monk fruit with erythritol be used instead of erythritol>
Katrin Nürnberger
Yes, you can use any sweetener in this recipe. I used the golden erythritol monk fruit blend.
jill
Thank you for this recipe! I love sticky toffee pudding. Could sour cream be subbed for the yogurt? I use lactose free, but no yogurt.
Katrin Nürnberger
Yes, I think sour cream would work just as well.
Naomi A Jones
I am going to attempt to make this for Christmas but we have tree nut allergy in our house. Will attempt with coconut flour. Any tips? I know that I need to use less coconut flour and more liquid.
Katrin Nürnberger
Normally 1/3 the amount is enough as coconut flour absorbs more moisture.