Sticky toffee pudding is a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 steamed dessert

Dessert

In cultures around the world, dessert is a course that typically comes at the end of a meal, usually consisting of sweet food. The word comes from the French language as dessert and this from Old French desservir, "to clear the table" and "to serve." Common Western desserts include cakes, biscuits,...

 consisting of a very moist sponge cake

Sponge cake

Sponge cake is a cake based on flour , sugar, and eggs, sometimes leavened with baking powder which has a firm, yet well aerated structure, similar to a sea sponge. A sponge cake may be produced by either the batter method, or the foam method. Typicially the batter method in the U.S. is known as a...

, made with finely chopped dates

Date Palm

The date palm is a palm in the genus Phoenix, cultivated for its edible sweet fruit. Although its place of origin is unknown because of long cultivation, it probably originated from lands around the Persian Gulf. It is a medium-sized plant, 15–25 m tall, growing singly or forming a clump with...

 or prunes, covered in a toffee

Toffee

Toffee is a confection made by caramelizing sugar or molasses along with butter, and occasionally flour. The mixture is heated until its temperature reaches the hard crack stage of 300 to 310 °F...

 sauce

Sauce

In cooking, a sauce is liquid, creaming or semi-solid food served on or used in preparing other foods. Sauces are not normally consumed by themselves; they add flavor, moisture, and visual appeal to another dish. Sauce is a French word taken from the Latin salsus, meaning salted...

 and often served with a vanilla custard

Custard

Custard is a variety of culinary preparations based on a cooked mixture of milk or cream and egg yolk. Depending on how much egg or thickener is used, custard may vary in consistency from a thin pouring sauce , to a thick pastry cream used to fill éclairs. The most common custards are used as...

 or vanilla ice-cream . It is considered a modern British ‘classic’, alongside Jam Roly-Poly

Jam Roly-Poly

Jam Roly-Poly, Dead Man's Arm or Dead Man's Leg is a traditional British dessert probably invented in the early 19th century. It is a flat-rolled suet pudding, which is then spread with jam and rolled up, similar to a Swiss roll. In days past, Jam Roly-Poly was also known as shirt-sleeve pudding,...

 and Spotted Dick

Spotted dick

Spotted dick is a British steamed suet pudding containing dried fruit commonly served with custard. Spotted refers to the dried fruit and dick may be a contraction or corruption of the word pudding or possibly a corruption of the word dough or dog, as "spotted dog" is another name for the same...

 puddings, capturing for many the childhood memories of growing up in the 20th Century.

Origins

The dessert's origins are considered a "mystery" according to the gastronomic journal, Saveur

Saveur

Saveur is a gourmet, food, wine, and travel magazine that specializes in essays about various world cuisines. The publication was co-founded by Dorothy Kalins, Michael Grossman, Christopher Hirsheimer, and Colman Andrews, who was also the editor-in-chief from 1996 to 2001...

; however, the dominant story is that Francis Coulson developed and served this dessert at his Sharrow Bay Country House

Sharrow Bay Country House

Sharrow Bay Country House is a restaurant located in Ullswater / Pooley Bridge, Cumbria, England. , the restaurant holds one star in the Michelin Guide.-History:...

 Hotel in the Lake District

Lake District

The Lake District, also commonly known as The Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region in North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous not only for its lakes and its mountains but also for its associations with the early 19th century poetry and writings of William Wordsworth...

 in 1960. Coulson's former protégé and chef, Juan Martin, has said that according to Coulson, the original concept for the dessert was derived from the South of England. Indeed this statement was backed up when the hotel researched the origins of sticky toffee pudding before the launch of its retail version. However, it has also been reported that the landlady of The Gait Inn, Millington

Millington, East Riding of Yorkshire

Millington is a small village and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is situated approximately north east of Pocklington.The civil parish is formed by the village of Millington and the hamlets of Great Givendale and Ousethorpe....

, invented it in 1907 for sale in her pub.
In any case, Coulson introduced and refined the dessert to the general public, making his recipe completely accessible to all those who asked.

Aberdeenshire

Aberdeenshire

Aberdeenshire is one of the 32 unitary council areas in Scotland and a lieutenancy area.The present day Aberdeenshire council area does not include the City of Aberdeen, now a separate council area, from which its name derives. Together, the modern council area and the city formed historic...

 also has claims regarding the origins of the dessert. The Udny Arms Hotel in Newburgh

Newburgh, Aberdeenshire

Newburgh is a coastal village in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The village dates to 1261 AD, when Lord Sinclair wanted to establish a chapel in the area. Originally built as a school, somewhat later the chapel of Holy Rood was established.-Geography:...

, Aberdeenshire

Aberdeenshire

Aberdeenshire is one of the 32 unitary council areas in Scotland and a lieutenancy area.The present day Aberdeenshire council area does not include the City of Aberdeen, now a separate council area, from which its name derives. Together, the modern council area and the city formed historic...

 has claimed that it invented the pudding years earlier than anyone else has been serving it, and those living in the surrounding area cite the hotel as the birthplace of the dessert. The Saplinbrae House Hotel in Peterhead

Peterhead

Peterhead is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is Aberdeenshire's biggest settlement , with a population of 17,947 at the 2001 Census and estimated to have fallen to 17,330 by 2006....

, also in Aberdeenshire

Aberdeenshire

Aberdeenshire is one of the 32 unitary council areas in Scotland and a lieutenancy area.The present day Aberdeenshire council area does not include the City of Aberdeen, now a separate council area, from which its name derives. Together, the modern council area and the city formed historic...

, has claims of it being originated there, long before it was being sold to the public, and of it being given to people living in the house at the time.