Self Saucing Butterscotch Pudding magic – one batter transforms into a warm butterscotch pudding cake AND butterscotch sauce! The cake is fudgy and moist, and the sauce is rich and indulgent, just like a homemade caramel sauce.
This recipe is the butterscotch version of everybody’s favourite Chocolate Self Saucing Pudding. Just as quick, just as easy, just as loved!
Self Saucing Butterscotch Pudding
There’s something childishly satisfying about self saucing puddings. I love the magic of it – one batter making a warm pudding plus a sauce.
And I love the cosiness of puddings. Put a delicately crafted chocolate masterpiece next to a “rustic” bowl of apple crumble topped with a melted mess of ice cream, and I’d choose the crumble any day and twice on Sunday.
So – 6 tier cakes you may never find on here (2 tier is my limit, it seems).
Rustic puddings and cosy crumbles? You will find lots of them here. Aforementioned Apple Crumble has much company, including Strawberry Crumble, Caramel Baked Apples, Sticky Date Pudding, Bread and Butter Pudding and of course, everybody’s favourite Chocolate Self Saucing Pudding.
And this Butterscotch Pudding is the latest to join the gang!
How to make Butterscotch Pudding
I promised you quick and easy, and I did not exaggerate.
Essentially, what you do is make one simple batter, then sprinkle the top with a sugar-cornflour mixture and cover with hot water. Then as it bakes, the sugar-cornflour mixture sinks to the bottom (I like to imagine all sorts of wonderful things happen as it passes through the pudding sponge) and it bubbles away and thickens under the pudding as it rises into a fluffy, moist cake.
It’s like…. magic!!
I love how it looks so innocent with it comes out of the oven… no hint of all that gorgeous butterscotch sauce underneath!!
What goes in Butterscotch Pudding
And here’s what you need to make it. Very few ingredients!
Just a note on a few of the items:
-
DARK brown sugar – using dark rather than normal brown sugar intensifies the butterscotch flavour of the pudding and the sauce. So use it if you can – but it’s still well worth making even if you only have normal brown sugar!
-
Golden syrup – an Aussie/UK syrup used in baking, such as Anzac Biscuits. It has a caramel type flavour which makes it ideal to use in the pudding to give it a butterscotch flavour without making a caramel the traditional way with butter and sugar. It’s not widely available outside of Australia/NZ/UK though here it is on Amazon.com ($3.63 for a can).
Best substitute golden syrup
Dark corn syrup (this is ideal), honey or maple syrup. Any of these will be fine because most of the butterscotch flavour in this overall dish comes from the sauce!
PLENTY of Butterscotch Sauce!
This recipe makes a generous amount of Butterscotch Sauce because I can’t imagine anything more disappointing than cutting through hot pudding only to find little or no sauce underneath. 😩
So this recipe makes almost 50% more sauce than usual Butterscotch Pudding recipes which provides some margin for error, and differences in oven temperature, depth of baking dishes…. and all the other little things that can affect the outcome of a recipe.
The other nice thing about this pudding is that it’s not too sweet. Butterscotch sauce is typically made with just butter and sugar (like this caramel sauce) but in this Pudding, the sauce is also thickened with cornflour/cornstarch which means less sugar is needed to achieve the syrupy consistency.
Which means you can totally justify topping with ICE CREAM!!! In fact, scratch that. Ice cream is mandatory!! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
More warm, cosy desserts
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Self Saucing Butterscotch Pudding
Ingredients
Butterscotch Pudding:
- 1/4 cup (50g) dark brown sugar , packed (Note 1)
- 1 1/4 cup (185g) plain flour (all purpose flour)
- 2.5 tsp baking powder
- 100g / 7 tbsp unsalted butter , melted
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup (125ml) milk (full or low fat)
- 4 tbsp golden syrup (Note 2)
Butterscotch Sauce:
- 3/4 cup (150g) dark brown sugar , packed (Note 2)
- 2 tbsp cornflour / corn starch
- 2 cups (500ml) boiling water
Serving
- Vanilla ice cream
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F (160°C fan).
- Grease a 6 cup baking dish (1.6L/1.6Q) with butter.
- Butterscotch Sauce: Whisk sugar and cornflour in bowl. Set aside.
- Pudding batter: Place sugar, flour and baking powder in a separate bowl. Whisk to combine.
- Add butter, egg, milk and golden syrup. Whisk until mostly lump free.
- Scrape into baking dish and smooth surface.
- Sprinkle Butterscotch Sauce sugar mixture all over surface.
- Pour boiling water over the surface over the back of a dessert spoon held as close to the batter as you can (to soften the pour so it doesn't break the surface of the batter).
- Transfer to oven, bake 40 minutes or until skewer inserted into the cake part comes out clean.
- Cut through pudding to reveal butterscotch sauce underneath.
- To serve, scoop pudding into a bowl then douse with butterscotch sauce. Top with ice cream!
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Life of Dozer
Just had breakfast.
Now it’s snooze time.
We all want #LifeofDozer!!
I made this one tonight and unfortunately wasn’t a fan. Strong baking powder flavour and was lacking something… Massive fan of all other recipes. Nagi’s Sticky date is one of our favourites!
Delish!
I halved the recipe as I was only making for me and my husband. I made it in a smaller 3 cup dish and cooked at 180 for 30mins and it came out perfect
Thanks for another banger, Nagi!
I found this lacked flavour. Could it be because I used treacle in place of golden syrup? The textures were fantastic.
Can this recipe be doubled? Made this for Thanksgiving (and it was a knock-out!) and I’ve been requested to make this again for Christmas with double the attendees.
I’d say the recipe can be doubled, but I’d bake in two separate vessels.
This looks delicious. Can you mix the cornstarch with the sugar and the water to make a paste and then spread it on top of the batter, rather than using the spoon technique? Also, if I wanted to make a whisky caramel sauce (what’s that you say? why yes, I am Irish 😳), would the cake be very dry if I prepared the caramel separately? Thanks for all your amazing recipes Nagi, we adore you ❤️
It would be a soup rather than a paste. Then the sugar and corn flour would not sit on top and may not be evenly distributed. It creates a crunchy top, and assists with the sauce.
Sinfully delicious 😋
Hi Nagi! Can you add chopped pecans under the batter?
If there is a chance there are leftovers, how would you suggest I reheat this or can I eat it cold?
Love this recipe! It is a favourite in my household.
I have made variations by…. adding 200gm of mashed banana(I know banana is not your favourite ingredient) to the wet mix. I blitz it with the milk.
Another variation I added 1tsp of ginger powder to the dry mix. And about 1Tbsp of fresh grated ginger to the wet mix, and swapped out golden syrup for molasses ( as I didn’t have golden syrup).
I’m really hoping I get a quick reply,
Can I cook this in a slowcooker?
My oven is out tonight but have a serious hankering!
How long would you do it for?
Hi Nagi,
Can I keep the batter ready beforehand and add the water just before I bake?
No sorry Brinda – the baking powder will activate as soon as it is in the wet ingredients so you don’t want that sitting out. You could measure out the dry and wet earlier then combine just before baking! N x
This was so yummy, and a fun change from our usual chocolate self-saucing pudding. I love the generous sauce, and the cake was really soft and fluffy. Like the chocolate version, this is a great dessert that comes together very quickly from pantry staples. Thank you!
Add a pinch of salt to both the batter and the pudding mixtures desserts/pudding needs salt for balance
Thanks for that suggestion Vi! N x
How can I make extra sauce for this pudding? Hubby would probably scoop up all the sauce in one sitting.
You could make a side of the sauce for my Sticky Date Pudding! N x https://www.recipetineats.com/sticky-toffee-pudding/
If I pour my batter into individual pudding cups, should I decrease the cooking time and if so by how much?
And can I freeze the batter before topping with the sugar?
I haven’t tested the smaller size so I can’t help with timing. You cannot freeze the batter but you can bake it and freeze the sponge separate to the sauce then put it back together later to serve! N x
Can I use arrowroot powder instead of cornflour , that’s all I have in the pantry
Yes Michelle I think that would thicken the sauce! N x
We have to double the recipe because it’s so good! Soooo easy to make too! Making one to drop off at a friends tonight 🙂
You’re a pretty good friend Debra!! N x
Wow, this is amazing!!! The bride made this exactly as per your recipe after I made your Creamy Garlic Prawns (that is a fortnightly feature in our house now, thank you) tonight.
Reminds me of the Big Sister Puddings from before 2014 when they went broke (how did that happen btw) but way better.
Big thanks again Nagi for all your amazing work with fabulous recipes and your work with feeding the homeless!
How could I turn this into a lemon one, not sure about the topping?
I’m sorry Di, I haven’t done a recipe for a lemon one yet! N x
I made this last night. New household favourite, even better than my best sticky date pudding masterchef recipe I’ve been making for the last 10 years.
I don’t know how you continue to beat out all my old favourite recipes but I’m pretty excited about it!
Thanks for another cracker, Nagi.
Woo hoo!! I love to beat a family favourite!! N x
QUESTION! Your recipe for Self-saucing Butterscotch Pudding reads “cornflour/cornstarch” – does this mean I should use either one or the other or does it mean to use a combination of both? Sorry, but I do have my DUH!?!?! days 🙂 I think I’m going to risk trying it with just cornstarch and see how it goes! Also, does anyone have any alterations that might re-create the Shirrif/Dr. Oetker Sauce n Cake apple & cinnamon flavoured product that has been discontinued – this looks like the perfect substitute recipe for the caramel/rum & butter varieties… I’m thinking I might try to chop tiny pieces of apple rolled in cinnamon sugar into the batter and add some cinnamon to the cornstarch/corn flour ingredient(s)… I’ll post and let y’all know if it’s a Yay! or a Nay! Now to just figure out cornstarch AND cornflour or just cornstarch or cornflour? Hmmm…. here I go….
Hi Rainom – I am guessing you are in South Africa where cornflour is actually ground up corn! In Australia, cornflour is the name for what you call cornstarch which is why the recipe reads like that! So you are correct to only use cornstarch! N x