This Gluten Free Sticky Toffee Pudding recipe comes from Georgia McDermott, a photographer in Melbourne whose recipes are gluten free and FODMAP dietary intolerance friendly. I’ve followed her on Instagram for many years, love her work and the fabulous desserts she posts. Her recipe for a Gluten Free and Egg Free Sticky Toffee Pudding caught my eye and as I now live in Abu Dhabi where dates are in ample supply I thought I’d give it a try. I added a Middle Eastern touch, replacing the usual butterscotch sauce with a vegan “caramel” sauce using date syrup and tahini, which is so good. A caramel worth having a stash of it in the fridge for any sweet emergencies.
The recipe calls for white rice flour and tapioca flour which these days are readily available. Georgia bakes the pudding in a 20cm x 20cm square cake tin but I decided to make individual puddings and used dariole moulds. My moulds have a volume of 200ml each and if you fill each mould to about 3/4 you should get 6 puddings out of the batter. The caramel sauce I make with tahini and date syrup is very sweet so I reduced the sugar in the puddings otherwise it all becomes just too sweet. Even if you don’t serve the puddings with a sauce I feel the 75g sugar is more than enough.
I baked the puddings in an air fryer and I find that if you are going to use it for baking, you need to keep a close watch. I baked these puddings at 170 degrees C for 10 minutes and checked if they were cooked through with a toothpick. Bake for a few minutes more if not and if they brown too quickly cover loosely with foil. Each air fryer is different so keep an eye on the puddings. If you use a square tin for one large pudding baked in the oven, bake at 180 degrees C for around 30 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out relatively clean. I have used the same recipe for a banana cake and it worked a charm. I used 250g mashed bananas and added a quarter cup of water to mimic the same mixture the dates are. I was not sure if the recipe still needed the bicard so added half a teaspoon.
The plate in the image is one of my handmade petal plates I’ve named “The Joan”. I have a beautiful vintage copper bowl that Joan gave me as a gift last year and I used it to make a mould of to shape the ceramic petal plates as they were drying. The Joan was a custom order for Orfali Bros Bistro, one of Dubai’s top Michelin starred restaurants and will be used for a new menu item to be launched soon. It is all very exciting and after two months of long days in the studio, mostly covered in terra cotta from head to toe I can not wait for their guests to eat from it. I spoke about my foray into ceramics and my photography career recently on A Table in the Corner podcast. Click here to have a listen.
PS: If you don’t want to make the date and tahini “caramel” have a look at this Miso Butterscotch I used in this Miso Butterscotch Swirl Ice Cream recipe.
I also have a Tahini Butterscotch recipe worth looking at that I served with these Pink Lady Apple Galettes with Spelt Crusts
I hope you enjoy this recipe for a Gluten Free Sticky Toffee Pudding. Remember to follow and share your pics with me on Instagram.
Gluten Free Sticky Toffee Pudding
Ingredients
- Puddings :
- 250 g regular pitted dates
- 1 tsp bicarb of soda
- 250 ml boiling water
- 130 g fine white rice flour
- 75 g tapioca flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 75 g light brown sugar
- 100 g butter melted
- Tahini Caramel Sauce :
- 75 ml tahini
- 75 ml date syrup
- 15 ml olive oil or coconut oil
- 1/2 tsp sea salt flakes
Instructions
- Grease 6 dariole moulds and set aside
- Chop the dates and place in a large bowl
- Add the bicarb of soda and boiling water
- Stir to combine, then set aside for 20 minutes
- Add the flours, baking powder, sugar and melted butter to the dates
- Stir thoroughly to combine (the batter should lighten and become slightly fluffy looking)
- Spoon the batter into the moulds up to 3/4 full
- Bake for 10 minutes at 170 degrees C
- After 10 minutes, test if the puddings are cooked by inserting a toothpick and if no batter is stuck to the toothpick they are cooked
- If still a bit raw then bake another 3 mins and check again
- If the puddings are burning take temperature down to 160 degrees C and loosely cover with a sheet of foil
- While the puddings bake, make the caramel by bringing all the sauce ingredients to the boil while stirring until glossy and smooth
- Serve the puddings with the caramel sauce
