Sticky toffee pudding cake

I am a recent convert to sticky toffee pudding and now I cannot get enough of it comforting sticky goodness. It was cold and dark outside and the news was somewhat depressing and I decided a comforting cake was needed. So I concocted a plan to put all the comforting loveliness of sticky toffee pudding in a cake.

This cake was a bit of an experiment but it did all it was supposed too and more. It was absolutely delicious warm from the oven with a little yoghurt and drizzle of maple syrup. It also kept very well and was perfect with a morning cuppa.

I reckon with buttercream of your choice and a bit of decoration this could be an excellent celebration cake as an alternative to chocolate.

I love this cake so much that is is a strong contender to be a layer in my wedding cake... if that does not convince you to try it I do not know what will!

Sticky toffee pudding cake

150g pecan
200g stoned dates
200g dairy free or lactose free spread (I used lactofree this time)
140g light brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 medium eggs
140g self raising GF flour

Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Butter and line the base of a 20cm springform cake tin.

Tip 100g of the pecans into a processor and whizz until fine then continue to process until it becomes a paste, like peanut butter. Add the dates and blend until a thick smooth paste forms. If your dates are a bit dry put them into a small pan with enough water to cover, boil for 5 mins until very soft. Drain, discarding the liquid, then whizz in the processor with the ground pecans until smooth. 

Beat the butter, sugar and vanilla together until light and creamy, then tip in the dates and pecans paste, eggs and a pinch of salt and beat briefly until smooth. Fold in the flour with a metal spoon, then spoon into the tin and level the top. 

Sprinkle the remaining nuts over the top (don’t press them in), then bake for 1 hour mins or until risen and golden and a skewer comes out clean. You may have to cover the top of the cake with foil to stop the top of the cake and pecans catching and getting too dark.

Leave to cool in the tin for 15 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool  completely.

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Chocolate and pecan traybake (gluten and dairy free)

This is a simple to make and deliciously chocolatey traybake, that's probably thanks to the 200g of dark chocolate in here! We enjoyed this so much that we finished it within days of it being made, saying that it does keep well. If you can eat dairy and gluten feel free to use butter and regular plain wheat flour.

 Definitely one to add to the collection, I can see this being made again with different flavouring and nuts for variety,

Chocolate and pecan traybake

200g dark chocolate
100g DF spread (I used pure)
85g golden caster sugar
4 eggs, separated, the whites into a greasefree bowl
85g ground almonds
75g GF plain flour (I used Dove farm)
1/8 tsp xantham gum
Pecans for decoration, anything from 50-100g

Preheat the oven to 160C/180C FAN/gas 4 and line a 25cm square cake tin or brownie/traybake tin with baking parchment. 

Put the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl and place over a pan of barely simmering water and heat gently, stirring every now and then until the chocolate and butter has melted. When cool, but still melted, stir in half the sugar and the egg yolks.

Whisk the whites to firm peaks, add the remaining sugar, then whisk again until glossy. Stir a spoonful of the egg whites into the chocolate mix along with the ground almonds, flour and xantham gum then fold through the rest. Transfer to the tin and top with lightly broken pecans. 

Bake for 25 minutes, cool in the tin for 10 mins, then lift onto a wire rack to cool completely. 

Jumble cookies

I absolutely love to bake. Since I have been diagnosed lactose intolerant I have managed to keep baking pretty well, tweaks include using almond milk, lactose free spread, soya yoghurt etc.

When searching for dairy free recipes I more often than not come across vegan baking. Vegan baking is a whole new challenge that scares me though, why? The lack of eggs, eggs are normally a glue that binds everything together, how will my baking turn out? Still some of the pictures of the vegan recipes made me want to eat my computer screen, they loked so good. Mind you looking good is all very well but what about the taste.

I decided I wanted cookies and so looking round a few blogs I ended up making these jumble cookies. A mix match of a few recipes and what was in my head.

Oh my god. These are one of the best cookies I have eaten. I can't say for certain that it is solely down to the fact that they are vegan. The flavours together are simply divine. Oats, pecans, chocolate, raisins, vanilla. I am very surprised that the texture is so good without any dairy but I am so so pleased with them.

They are so insanely good that the two of us have managed to polish off 28 in 4 days.

Jumble cookies

makes ~28

100g pecans
180g oats
75g plain flour
tsp bicarbonate of soda
pinch of sea salt
100g light brown sugar
30g coconut oil
tsp vanilla paste/extract
100ml maple syrup
2 tablespoons almond milk
35g dark chocolate
50g raisins

Preheat the oven to 160C/140C FAN and line a baking sheet with baking parchment.

Toast the pecans in a frying pan until they are releasing their fragrance. Add the pecans and half the oats to a food processor and pulse until the texture is that of coarse sand.

Tip this into a mixing bowl along with the remaining oats, plain flour, bicarbonate of soda, salt and light brown sugar.

Gently warm the coconut oil in a pan until it melts. Remove from the heat and add in the vanilla, maple syrup and almond milk. 

Mix the wet ingredients briefly into the dry ingredients. Add in the raisins and chocolate and mix until evenly distributed. 

Roll tablespoons of the mixture onto the prepared baking sheets and then flatten with you hands. 

Bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes until golden. When done remove from the oven and transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool.

I am really rather sad that these cookies are gone and will definitely be making them again. Perhaps with different nut and fruit combinations.

Now I am all out of cookies, its time to bake again and I might just get adventurous and try some more vegan baking very soon.

Maple pecan fudge

Christmas is fast approaching and over the past few years I have started to make little homemade presents, either a few together as a gift or alongside something else.

I have already made rhubarb and ginger jam which I made last year. This year I have already made a variation too, clementine and lemon marmalade. I have also remade peanut brittle, recipe here.

I still have to make salted caramels dipped in chocolate, pink champagne marshmallows, spiced coconut  caramels, frostbite cookies and pesto. Phew, look out for those appearing on the blog in the next week or so!

One new recipe for this year, already made, is maple and pecan fudge. I had never made fudge before so was a little worried about how it would turn out. The recipe I followed was fantastic and the resulting fudge is creamy and  really deeply flavoured with maple syrup.

Maple pecan fudge (from bbc good food magazine)

150g golden caster sugar
300g maple syrup (I used the darker grade for a more intense flavour)
30g of golden syrup
150ml double cream
75ml whole milk
1 tsp vanilla paste
1/2 tsp sea salt
25g butter
100g pecans, roughly chopped

Grease the sides and base of a 8 inch square pan with some sort of vegetable oil and line with baking parchment. 

Combine all the ingredients except the butter and pecans in a large heavy based saucepan and cook gently over a medium heat, stirring frequently,  to dissolve the sugar.

Pop a sugar thermometer into the pan and bring the syrup to the boil. Continue to cook the syrup at a gentle boil until it reaches 114C/236F. The mix will have to be stirred frequently to prevent it catching on the base of the pan. This will take a while to get t the correct temperature, be patient. 

Take the pan from the heat and plunge the base into cold water to prevent the syrup from cooking further. Add the butter, give the fudge a gentle stir then scoop into a large mixing bowl. Leave to cool at room temperature for 20 minutes. Do not touch it! Not even a tiny taste, you will end up with grainy fudge. 

Using a wooden spoon beat the fudge for 3-4 minutes until it thickens and starts to lose its sheen. Add 3/4 of the pecans and then spoon the fudge into the prepared tin, spreading with a palette knife to create an even layer. Scatter the remaining pecans over the fudge pressing them in gently.

Leave to set overnight before using a nice sharp knife to cut into squares.

The recipe states these will keep for two weeks. I have wrapped each square tightly in clingfilm then put them in a thick cellophane bag. Hopefully the recipients will enjoy, I certainly enjoyed my quality control piece!

Toffee apple cake

This cake is based on a delicious cake already on the blog, apple and almond cake, it is regularly requested by Mark. I adapted the recipe not because it is not already perfect but because I waned to utilise ingredients I had left over from the salted caramel and pecan cupcakes posted earlier.

Not that the cupcakes were not lovely but this was definitely a case where a recipe to use up leftovers was better than the original recipe the ingredients were called for.

Toffee Apple Cake

makes 1 cake

For the apples

3 dessert apples, I used gala
25g caramel (mine is from a tin on this occasion)

For the cake

150g butter
125g caster sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla paste
75g self raising flour
75g ground pecans (simply whiz pecan in a food processor)
100g ish caramel
Grease a 20cm springform tin and line the base with baking parchment. Preheat the oven to 170C/150C FAN.

Core the apples and cut into 4, slice each quarter into 3 wedges. Put the caramel into a frying pan and warm gently. Add the apples and cook gently for about 5 minutes until starting to become lightly caramelised and tender. Put aside for a few minutes to cool. 

Beat the butter, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add one egg and beat again. Add the second egg and a tablespoon of the flour and beat until fully incorporated. Add the remaining flour and the ground pecans and fold in with a spatula. 

Place 2/3 cake batter into the prepared cake tin and level with a spatula, drizzle over a layer of caramel, and smooth into an even layer with a spatula, carefully dollop on the remaining cake batter and smooth with a spatula Arrange the apple on top, adding a final drizzle of caramel if you still have some to spare. 

Place in the preheated oven and bake for ~45 minutes until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Leave to cool in the tin for at least 10 minutes before releasing and allowing to cool on a wire rack. 

This cake is best warm from the oven, with warm caramel throughout the cake and yummy amazing caramelised edges.

I am not suggesting of course that you eat the entire cake in one sitting. Instead keep the cake in an airtight tin and reheat slices in warm oven for 5 minutes before tucking in.  

Pecan and salted caramel cupcakes

Pecan nuts seem to be a very autumnal nut. They go with all the spicy, apple-y, toffee-y flavours around at this time of year and appear at bonfire night and thanksgiving in varying guises including pecan pie.

I had a cupcake craving so quickly made these with cupboard ingredients, I love the deep nutty flavour the nuts give the cake and love the contrasting crunch of the nuts on the top of the cake.

Pecan and salted caramel cupcakes

makes 12

125g butter
70g golden caster sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla paste
55g salted caramel
2 eggs
75g self raising flour
50g pecan nuts ground to a flour like consistency in a food processor

50g butter
160g icing sugar
60g salted caramel

Extra caramel and pecans for the top

For my salted caramel I simply gently warmed up some of a tin of carnation caramel in a pan and added salt to taste. Now what to do with the leftovers...

Preheat the oven to 160C/140C FAN and line a cupcake tin with liners.

Cream the butter, sugar and vanilla together until light and creamy. Beat in the caramel and eggs until fully incorporated. Finally, with the mixer on slow,  beat in the flour and ground pecans until just incorporated.

Divide the mixture evenly between the cases and bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes.

When the cakes are golden and springy remove from the oven and transfer the cakes to a wire rack to cool completely.

When the cakes are completely cool they can be frosted. To make the frosting beat the butter and icing sugar together until very light and fluffy. Beat in the caramel till incorporated. 

Dollop the frosting onto the cooled cakes and swirl with a palette knife. Top with drizzles of caramel and chopped pecans.

Pecan slices

These were one of those pleasant baking surprises  One of those ones where you know you are going to like it, its not too experimental or controversial. Then you taste it and it is just wow?

These bars, for me, are one of those bakes and it is an exceedingly good job that I was taking them into work as I literally could have sat an eaten the entire pan.

Theses slices are similar to brownies, they do not have that really dense fudginess that comes from the chocolate, they are much lighter. They do however have a flaky top and an absolutely delightfully chewyness. The flavour is a very moreish butterscotch sort of flavour and the pecans add a nice contrasting nutty crunch.

They also take no time at all to make, so have I tempted you?

Pecan slices 

110g butter
350g light brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla paste/extract
2 eggs
170g plain flour 
100g pecan nuts, chopped

Preheat the oven to 170C/150C FAN and grease and line a brownie pan, or similar.

Gently melt the butter then combine with the sugar in a large bowl. No need for electric mixers, a good old fashioned spoon is perfect. Add the baking powder and stir to combine, follow with the vanilla.

Lightly beat the eggs and add to the bowl, stir until they are well incorporated. Add the flour ~1/3  at a time and make sure it is fully combined before adding the further increments. Finally stir in the chopped pecans.

Tip the mix into your prepared tin and smooth the top. It may not look enough in a standard brownie pan, but trust me it will rise up as it bakes.

Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, Keep an eye on it towards the end of cooking time. Mine took the full 25 minutes. Leave to cool completely in the tin before cutting into bars.

These went down very well at work. I would suggest making them to share unless of course you have more self control than me and can bear to keep them in an airtight tin for 5 days or so. 

Fruit and nut flapjacks

Ah flapjacks, they start off so well don't they? You fill a bowl chock full of things that are good for you, oats, fruit, nuts etc. You then diligently turn and fill a pan with butter, syrup and sugar! However we must not lose sight of the fact that all the good stuff is still there!

Yes I am justifying to myself that these are an excellent energy boosting snack and perfect before dance rehearsals.

They are super quick and simple to mix up and a batch can be in the oven within 10 minutes.

These flapjacks are a bit of a hotch potch of things I had to use up in the cupboard, but I love love love the finished result. Peanuts will definitely be making a welcome reappearance in flapjacks again.

Fruit and nut flapjacks


makes 16


175g oats
35g chopped pecans
40g halved peanuts
70g dried cranberries
70g currants
140g butter
25g golden syrup
125g light brown sugar
teaspoon vanilla paste (optional)


Grease and line a suitable tin with baking parchment, I lined my brownie tin. Preheat the oven to 160C/FAN 140C.


Put the oats, nuts and fruit into a bowl. Gently heat the butter, sugar and golden syrup until melted. Mix into the dry ingredients until thoroughly combined. Tip the flapjack mixture into the prepared tin, level and lightly press down with the back of a spoon. 

Bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes until lightly golden.

Leave to cool in the pan, when cool remove and cut into squares. 

These flapjacks keep in an airtight tin very well, and are robust enough to transport to work for an afternoon snack.

The vanilla in this is completely optional but I like the subtle hint of it in my flapjack. The total weight of fruit and  nuts in this recipe is 215g, as long as you keep to roughly this weight you could ring the changes with as many fruit and nut combos as you can think of! 

White chocolate and pecan blondies

Ugh. I like what I do, really I do, but you know those days where everything just goes wrong? And it just gets worse and worse and spreads into your everyday life until you cannot walk down the street without falling off the kerb? Yep, that was my day yesterday. Never mind this set of lovelies was going to combine into baking magic and hopefully cheer me right up.

Why are my eggs in a jug? I dropped the egg box, three eggs had to be salvaged immediately, Told you it was one of those days.

I have never made blondies before and looking at recipes they seem to be split into two camps. Those that use melted white chocolate and those that use just brown sugar to flavour them. I do not know which camp is 'right', if any, but I went with the chocolate camp.

I did tweak the recipe though, I lowered the sugar a little as I thought that they would be very sweet already. I also stole ideas from the brown sugar camp and used some light brown sugar instead of all caster sugar.

White chocolate and pecan blondies (adapted from hummingbird bakery)


150g white chocolate
125g butter
100g caster sugar
30g light brown sugar
2 eggs
200g plain flour
100g shelled pecan nuts, chopped


Preheat the oven to 170C/150 FAN and grease and line a brownie tin.


Place a bowl over a pan of barely simmering water. Place the butter and chocolate into the bowl and leave to melt.


Stir the sugars into the melted mixture until well combined. The mixture will look curdled and split at this point, do not panic, all will be well. Add the eggs and beat quickly, the mixture should come back together. 


Add the flour and chopped nuts and stir until all the flour is incorporated and the the nuts are evenly dispersed. 


Pour into prepared brownie tin and level. Bake in preheated oven for 30-35 minutes.


Leave to cool in the tin before removing and cutting into squares. 

A few notes. I used a tin with pretty much the same overall measurements as the recipe and found the blondies to be quite shallow. First of all this affected the coking time in my oven, I took them out after 22 minutes. Make sure you keep an eye on them. They are rich so shallow is not necessarily a problem but I do like that fudgy centre bit you get in deep brownies. I may up the recipe by half when I make them again. Clearly the number of blondies you get depends on how large you cut them! 

I think these are amazing. It took a lot of self restraint not to sit and eat the entire tin. M likes them but is not overly keen on pecans so I need to think of some variations. I was wondering about salted peanuts to combat the sweetness? We shall see.