Sticky Toffee Cupcakes

5 from 20 votes

Sticky Toffee Cupcakes are as soft, squidgy and irresistible as the classic pudding they are mimicking. Each cupcake is full of tender dates and comes topped with gloriously rich and buttery toffee sauce along with a little buttercream. They are bound to be a hit with family and friends.

Prep Time40

Cook Time20

Total Time1

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: British

Servings:

Calories: 432kcal

Author: Jane Coupland

Ingredients

For the Cakes

90 g/ 4 ½ oz Chopped dates (pitted)
½ teaspoon Bicarbonate of soda
125 g/ 4 ½ oz Plain (all purpose) flour
1 teaspoon Baking powder
125 g/ 4 ½ oz Light muscovado sugar
125 g/ 4 ½ oz Butter - softened
2 Eggs - large, free range

For the Sticky Toffee Sauce

90 g/ 3 oz Butter
90 g/ 3 oz Dark muscovado sugar
2 tablespoon Golden syrup (or corn syrup)
¾ teaspoon Vanilla extract
Pinch of salt

For the buttercream

150 g/ 5 oz Butter
200 g/ 7 ½ oz Icing (confectionary) sugar
2 tablespoon Sticky Toffee Sauce (see above)

Instructions

Make the Cupcakes

Begin by putting the dates and bicarbonate of soda into a small bowl and pouring boiling water over to just cover the fruit. Set aside.
Preheat the oven 170C/ 325F/ GM3 and line a cupcake tray with paper cake cases.
Using electric beater, cream the butter and sugar together until light & fluffy.
Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well.
Sift the flour and baking powder into the bowl and gently stir in, using a large metal spoon until thoroughly combined. Take care not to overwork the batter though.
Drain the dates through a sieve - give it a good shake to remove the liquid. Quickly fold the dates into the cake batter
Divide between the cupcake cases - filling each case around ⅔ full - and bake for approximately 20 minutes.
Test that the cupcakes are baked through: poke a cocktail stick into one of the cakes - if it comes out clean then the cakes are ready. If not, return to the oven for a couple more minutes, then test again.

Make the Sticky Toffee Sauce

While the cupcakes are baking measure all of the sauce ingredients (except the vanilla extract) into a saucepan.
When the cupcakes have around 10 minutes of baking time left, put the pan on a moderate heat and all the ingredients to fully melt, stirring with a wooden spoon frequently.
When everything has dissolved, turn up the heat and bring to a boil for 1 minute.
Reduce the heat to low, stir in the vanilla extract and keep the pan on the heat to keep warm.
As soon as the cupcakes come out of the oven drizzle 1 teaspoon of sauce over each cupcake, spreading it out a little (but it does not need to cover the top of the entire cake - see my picture in the body of the post).
Let the rest of the sauce cool to room temperature.

Make the Buttercream

Put the butter into a medium bowl and beat until smooth and soft.
Sieve in the icing sugar 1 tablespoon at a time and beat well between each addition.
Once all of the icing sugar has been mixed in, beat in the cooled sticky toffee sauce .

Assembling the Cupcakes

Once the cupcakes and sauce have cooled completely, pipe a thin line of buttercream around the edge of each cupcake (½ cm in).
Using a Wilton 30 star nozzle pipe lines from the edge of the cupcake, over the circular line previously piped and finish ⅓ of the way into the cupcake (see my step by step images for a little more guidance.
(My tip is to pipe lines at 12 o'clock, 3 o'clock, 6 o'clock and 9 o'clock and then fill in the gaps with more lines).
Once the full circle of lines has been piped, pour 1-2 tsp sauce into the centre of each cupcake - enough to fill the space left, but not enough to make it pour over the top.
Neaten the cupcake up by piping small stars (using the same nozzle) all the way around the edge of the pool of sauce.
(Again, my step-by-step images will help clarify this action).
Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Notes

Always use digital scales and gram measurements. It’s the easiest and most accurate way to measure the ingredients when baking.
Be careful making ingredient substitutions. The success of this recipe is in the careful selection of ingredients listed.
Drizzle the toffee sauce over the sticky toffee cupcakes as soon as they come out of the oven. The sauce will seep into the sponge cake better when they are hot.
Of course, you may also pipe a swirl of buttercream over the top of your cakes and then drizzle with the sticky toffee sauce instead.

Nutrition