Vegan sticky date pudding with orange, pecans and warm treacle sauce

Serves - 6 to 8

You’ll need

• 200g pitted dates, roughly chopped
• 250ml boiling water
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 75g vegan block butter, softened
• 125g soft dark brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Zest of 1 orange
• 2 tbsp orange juice
• 200g self-raising flour
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp ground ginger
• Pinch of sea salt
• 75g pecans, roughly chopped
• 100ml unsweetened plant-based milk

For the warm treacle sauce
• 75g vegan block butter
• 125g soft dark brown sugar
• 2 tbsp black treacle
• 150ml plant-based double cream
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Small pinch of sea salt

To serve, optional
• Vegan vanilla ice cream
• Dairy-free crème fraîche

Method

1. Soften the dates

Put the chopped dates into a bowl and pour over the boiling water. Stir in the bicarbonate of soda and leave for 15 minutes until the dates are soft and beginning to break down.

Mash them lightly with a fork, keeping a little texture. You want a soft, sticky mixture rather than something completely smooth and suspiciously well behaved.

2. Get the tin ready

Heat the oven to 180°C fan. Grease a 20cm square baking tin or similarly sized ovenproof dish with a little vegan butter and line the base with baking paper.

3. Make the pudding mixture

Beat the softened vegan butter and brown sugar together in a large bowl until lighter and well combined. Add the vanilla, orange zest and orange juice, then mix again.

Stir in the softened date mixture, including all the soaking liquid. It may look slightly less than elegant at this stage, but sticky puddings are rarely at their finest before the oven has had its say.

4. Add the dry ingredients

Sift in the self-raising flour, cinnamon, ginger and salt. Fold everything together gently, adding the plant-based milk a little at a time until you have a thick but spoonable batter.

Fold through most of the chopped pecans, keeping a small handful back for the top.

5. Bake until risen

Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and smooth the surface. Scatter over the remaining pecans, then bake for 30–35 minutes until risen, darkly golden and springy in the centre.

A skewer inserted into the middle should come out without wet batter, though a few sticky crumbs are entirely appropriate here.

6. Make the treacle sauce

While the pudding bakes, put the vegan butter, brown sugar, black treacle, plant-based cream, vanilla and salt into a saucepan.

Warm gently, stirring until the butter has melted and the sugar has dissolved. Bring to a low simmer and cook for 3–4 minutes until smooth, glossy and slightly thickened. Keep the heat sensible – this is a sauce, not an attempt at industrial caramel production.

7. Soak the pudding

When the pudding is ready, leave it in the tin for 5 minutes, then prick the surface several times with a skewer. Pour over roughly one-third of the warm treacle sauce and allow it to soak in.

This is not the moment for restraint. The sauce is doing important structural work.

8. Serve

Cut the pudding into generous squares and serve warm with the remaining treacle sauce spooned over the top. Add vegan vanilla ice cream or dairy-free crème fraîche if you like, particularly while the sauce is still hot enough to soften it around the edges.

A couple of helpful notes
- Black treacle gives the sauce its depth, but golden syrup can replace half of it if you prefer a slightly lighter flavour.
- The pudding can be made a day ahead and reheated gently, covered, in a low oven. Warm the sauce separately before serving.
- Toasting the pecans for a few minutes before adding them will bring out even more flavour, though they are perfectly good used as they are.