A warm Treacle Sponge Pudding is the perfect dessert for a chilly evening! A traditional British treat, this dish is a favorite school pudding, popular with kids and parents too.
Ask any British school child (or their parents) for their favorite school pudding and you can guarantee that Treacle Sponge will be a popular choice!
This tradiitonal dessert is a tasty combination of comforting, fluffy sponge with a topping of sweet golden treacle. Not only is it reminiscent of school days in the UK, it’s often also served after the traditional British Sunday roast and makes a great way to end the meal!
What is treacle?
Golden (or light) treacle is the same as golden syrup, which is a by product from the process of refining cane sugar. It has quite a thick texture and is – of course – deliciously sweet!
The best known brand of golden syrup in the world is Lyle’s, and it’s usually fairly easy to get hold of wherever you are (if not, you can usually find it online).
But if you can’t get hold of any type of golden syrup or treacle to use in this recipe, then use light corn syrup instead. It’s a bit thinner in texture, but works perfectly well.
We wouldn’t recommend using either maple syrup or honey. Whilst they are fairly similar in terms of texture, they both have quite a pronounced flavor that doesn’t work as well in this recipe.
Treacle Sponge tips
This classic British dessert was traditionally steamed rather than baked, so that’s the technique we’ve used here. You may also come across recipes for baked Treacle Sponge, which is equally delicious but has a different texture.
You can serve this pudding (British for dessert!) with cream, ice-cream or English custard. If you want to be really decadent, you could even use clotted cream! Some people like to pour a little extra treacle or syrup on top too. Sinfully sweet… but oh so good!
More British School Puddings
Treacle Sponge Recipe
Ingredients
- 175 grams Unsalted Butter softened, plus extra for greasing
- 3 tablespoons Syrup plus extra for drizzling (use golden syrup or light corn syrup)
- 25 grams Fresh Bread Crumbs
- 175 grams Light Brown Sugar
- zest of one Lemon
- 3 large Egg beaten
- 175 grams Self Rising Flour
- 2 tablespoons Milk
Instructions
- Generously grease a 1-liter pudding basin with butter.
- Combine the syrup with the breadcrumbs, then spoon them into the basin.
- In a separate bowl, beat together the butter, sugar and zest until fluffy and pale in color.
- Beat in the eggs gradually, then fold in the flour.
- Stir in the milk, then spoon the mixture into the basin.
- Cover with a double layer of greased foil and baking paper, pleated in the center to allow for the pudding to rise.
- Use kitchen string to tie the foil then place the basin in a steamer or a large pan of gently simmering water (the water should come about halfway up the sides of the basin).
- Steam for 1 1/2 hours, then turn out on to your serving plate. Serve with the toppings of your choice!