Sticky toffee pudding is considered to be a British classic. A sponge cake studded with chopped dates and drizzled with toffee sauce, it is a staple on many dessert menus across the pond.

It is in fact a relatively recent invention, with a number of claims and counter claims as to who exactly came up with the recipe. It first came to prominence in the 1970s at the Sharrow Bay hotel in the Lake District, who declare their version to be the original. According to this article by English chef Simon Hopkinson their recipe may have actually come from a Mrs.Martin of Lancashire whose recipe appeared in the 1971 book “The Good Food Guide Dinner Party Book”, and there is conjecture that she received the recipe some years earlier from a Canadian source. Another Lake District location, the Village Shop in Cartmel, also claims to be the birthplace of the pudding.

Whatever the origins of sticky toffee pudding, I thought it was a perfect candidate for turning into a bite sized truffle. Obviously I needed to start by making a sticky toffee pudding. Thankfully there are no shortage of recipes; it seems that almost every British chef or food writer has at some point published their own version. I opted for this version from Nigel Slater.

Having produced my pudding and separate toffee sauce it was then a case of combining them with some chocolate to form the truffle centres and then coat them in yet more chocolate to finish. I was delighted with the result. The dark chocolate coating balanced with the sweetness of the centre to make a delicious treat.

Sticky Toffee Pudding Truffles

4oz toffee pudding (from this recipe)

4oz toffee sauce (from this recipe)

4oz milk chocolate

6oz dark chocolate

Melt the milk chocolate over medium heat in a double boiler or a glass bowl over a pan of water.

Crumble the pudding and place in a bowl. Add the toffee sauce and the melted milk chocolate and stir to combine. When cool, place in the refrigerator until the mixture is firm.

Taking a teaspoon full of the mixture at a time, roll into balls to form the centres of the truffles. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, then return to the fridge to firm up again.

Melt the dark chocolate for the coating in a double boiler. Dip the truffle centres in the melted chocolate to coat and place on baking parchment to set before savouring this bite sized British classic.