This Carrot Cake Sticky Toffee Pudding recipe is excerpted from Lauren Boehme’s cookbook ‘Delicious AF Vegan: 100 Simple Recipes for Wildly Flavorful Plant-Based Comfort Foods‘. Lauren is a classically trained pastry chef, the author of Southern Vegan: Delicious Down-Home Recipes for Your Plant-Based Diet, and the creator of the Rabbit & Wolves blog, where she shares her delicious vegan recipes. She currently resides in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Table of Contents
I awoke with a jolt one morning. The reason? In my mind, sticky toffee pudding and carrot cake should become one. It makes so much friggin’ sense. They have a lot of the same ingredients, but when I tell you adding carrots to a sticky toffee pudding was a good idea, I am vastly understated what is happening here. The marriage of dates and carrots with the toffee sauce will forever be burned into my brain as one of the best desserts I have ever had.
Ingredients You’ll Need
Cake
- Medjool dates
- Water
- Soda
- Vegan butter
- Molasses
- Vegan light brown sugar
- Applesauce
- Vanilla extract
- Carrots
- All-purpose flour
- Baking powder
- Cinnamon
- Ginger
- Nutmeg
- Salt
Toffee Sauce
- Vegan butter
- Coconut cream or full-fat coconut milk
- Vegan light brown sugar
- Vanilla extract
- Cinnamon
- Salt
For Serving (Optional)
- Vegan vanilla ice cream
- Vegan whipped topping
Recommended Equipment
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Glass Mixing Bowl (Freezer & Oven Safe)
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KitchenAid Artisan Mini 3.5 Quart Stand Mixer
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Step 1: Preparing the Date Mixture
Put the dates into a medium heat-proof bowl. Pour the boiling water over the top of the dates. Sprinkle the baking soda over the top of the dates and water. Stir to combine. Let the dates sit submerged in the water for at least 20 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350°F (176°C). Spray six 8-ounce (237-ml) ramekins with nonstick spray. You can also use a 6-tin muffin pan.
Step 2: Preparing the Cake Batter
Make the cake. In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, add the butter, molasses and brown sugar. Beat together, using a hand mixer or the paddle attachment of a stand mixer, until it is fully combined and fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes.
Add the applesauce and vanilla to the bowl. Continue to beat until combined. The mixture will look broken; that is normal. Fold the carrots into the wet mixture. Set aside.
Step 3: Creating the Date-Infused Batter
In a separate medium mixing bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, about ½ cup (60 g) at a time, continuing to beat together until it is fully combined, scraping down the sides with a rubber spatula as needed. Don’t over-mix. Set aside.
Pour the dates and the liquid they have been soaking in into a food processor. Process until the dates become a smooth paste, 1 to 2 minutes. Scoop the date paste into the bowl with the batter, and beat together one more time until the date paste has been fully incorporated.
Step 4: Baking and Preparing the Toffee Sauce
Pour the batter evenly into the prepared ramekins. Bake for 22 to 27 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean from the center of the puddings.
While the puddings are baked, make the toffee sauce. In a small saucepan, add the butter, coconut cream, brown sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, and a pinch of salt. Heat the saucepan over medium heat, and begin to whisk everything together.
As the butter melts, continue to whisk until everything has melted together and is fully combined. Bring the mixture to a simmer. Reduce the heat to low, and simmer for 5 to 6 minutes, making sure it stays in a small bubble. It will thicken slightly. Remove from the heat, and let it cool as the puddings finish baking.
Step 5: Finishing And Serving
Once the puddings are done, let them cool for a few minutes, then loosen them from the ramekins by running a small knife around the edges of the puddings. Invert onto a cooling rack. Let them cool for a few more minutes. Then, while they are still slightly warm, generously brush the tops and the sides of the puddings with the toffee sauce. I like to put a silicone mat under the cooling rack to catch any dripping toffee sauce. You should have plenty of the toffee sauce left for serving.
When ready to serve, put one of the puddings on a plate, drizzle with extra toffee sauce, and serve with vegan vanilla ice cream or vegan whipped cream, if desired.
Carrot Cake – Recipe Card
Carrot Cake Sticky Toffee Pudding
Ingredients
Cake
- 7 oz 198 g Medjool dates, pitted
- ¾ cup 180 ml boiling water
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 5 tbsp 70 g room-temperature vegan butter
- 2 tbsp 30 ml molasses
- ⅓ cup 73 g vegan light brown sugar
- ½ cup 120 ml applesauce
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ cup 55 g shredded carrots
- 1¼ cups 156 g all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp dried ginger
- ¼ tsp nutmeg
- ¼ tsp salt
Toffee Sauce
- ½ cup 108 g vegan butter
- ¾ cup 180 ml coconut cream or full-fat coconut milk
- ¾ cup 165 g vegan light brown sugar
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- Pinch of salt
For Serving (Optional)
- Vegan vanilla ice cream
- Vegan whipped topping
Instructions
- Put the dates into a medium heat-proof bowl. Pour the boiling water over the top of the dates. Sprinkle the baking soda over the top of the dates and water. Stir to combine. Let the dates sit submerged in the water for at least 20 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (176°C). Spray six 8-ounce (237-ml) ramekins with nonstick spray. You can also use a 6-tin muffin pan.
- Make the cake. In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, add the butter, molasses and brown sugar. Beat together, using a hand mixer or the paddle attachment of a stand mixer, until it is fully combined and fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes.
- Add the applesauce and vanilla to the bowl. Continue to beat until combined. The mixture will look broken; that is normal. Fold the carrots into the wet mixture. Set aside.
- In a separate medium mixing bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and salt.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, about ½ cup (60 g) at a time, continuing to beat together until it is fully combined, scraping down the sides with a rubber spatula as needed. Don’t over mix. Set aside.
- Pour the dates and the liquid they have been soaking in into a food processor. Process until the dates become a smooth paste, 1 to 2 minutes. Scoop the date paste into the bowl with the batter, and beat together one more time until the date paste has been fully incorporated.
- Pour the batter evenly into the prepared ramekins. Bake for 22 to 27 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean from the center of the puddings.
- While the puddings bake, make the toffee sauce. In a small saucepan, add the butter, coconut cream, brown sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and a pinch of salt. Heat the saucepan over medium heat, and begin to whisk everything together.
- As the butter melts, continue to whisk until everything has melted together and is fully combined. Bring the mixture to a simmer. Reduce the heat to low, and simmer for 5 to 6 minutes, making sure it stays at a small bubble. It will thicken slightly. Remove from the heat, and let it cool as the puddings finish baking.
- Once the puddings are done, let them cool for a few minutes, then loosen them from the ramekins by running a small knife around the edges of the puddings. Invert onto a cooling rack. Let them cool for a few more minutes. Then, while they are still slightly warm, generously brush the tops and the sides of the puddings with the toffee sauce. I like to put a silicone mat under the cooling rack to catch any dripping toffee sauce. You should have plenty of the toffee sauce left for serving.
- When ready to serve, put one of the puddings on a plate, drizzle with extra toffee sauce, and serve with vegan vanilla ice cream or vegan whipped cream, if desired.
Reprinted with permission from Delicious AF Vegan by Lauren Boehme. Page Street Publishing Co. 2023. Photo credit: Lauren Boehme and Julie Grace.
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About The Cookbook
Discover your new favorite feel-good recipes from Lauren Boehme, bestselling author of Southern Vegan. Her latest cozy collection packs in 100 recipes that are as hearty as they are innovative, proving once again that Lauren is a master at marrying flavors for ingenious mashups.
- Devour a big, delicious bowl of Scratch-Made Biscuit and Broccoli Cheddar Cobbler, or prepare the feast of your dreams with a Cider-Braised Pot Roast that will warm up even the chilliest evening.
- Put your feet up while one-pot Spicy Lasagna Soup simmers on the stove, be the star of your next potluck with Fried Green Chile Mac and Cheese Dippers or settle in for a cozy night with decadent Carrot Cake Sticky Toffee Pudding.
- Think Sweet Pepper Cheesesteak Burritos, Jalapeño Popper Loaded Nachos, Chai Latte Crepes, Black Forest Cinnamon Rolls, and Funfetti Cake Ice Cream. With these crowd-pleasing dishes on your table, every meal of the day will be something incredible to look forward to. Never before have the options for plant-based eating
- been more expansive, more delicious or more comforting!
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If You Enjoyed This Carrot Cake, You Might Like This Broccoli Cobbler recipe from the same author. Click here to get the recipe.
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