This post may contain affiliate links. Please see my full disclosure for details.
Hi Bold Bakers!
I’m bringing one of my absolute favorite classics back at home right here to Bigger Bolder Baking today! This special steamed cake, as known as “pudding” in England and Ireland, is going to bring up so many wonderful childhood and travel memories for those who have had them — and new memories for those who want a taste of something exciting and new!
If you tried my Perfectly Steamed Marmalade Pudding, you already know how amazing this recipe is going to be. I’m honestly just melting thinking about it! Back home, we love these types of puddings because they’re super moist and retain unbelievable flavor. Here we go!
What Is Steamed Pudding?
For those unfamiliar, steamed pudding is essentially cake batter that is steamed. The funny thing is that it isn’t really like pudding at all! It’s actually more like cake — a very moist cake — that is put into a fun mold and slowly steamed for two hours instead of popping it into the oven.
I promise you — it’s simple, it’s easy, and it’s delicious! You will have to drop in from time to time to check on the water levels, but it’s low maintenance and absolutely worth it when you drizzle the Creme Anglaise on top and stick your fork right through the center of the softness. If you need an extra hand (or are just curious about this fascinating process), check out How To Steam A Christmas Pudding for some extra helpful tips!
What Is Treacle?
Simply put, treacle is a thick, sticky, delicious syrup that’s part-refined sugar and part-molasses. It’s similar to molasses, because of the same sugar refining process, but treacle is much lighter and closer to a golden syrup. The most common forms of treacle are golden syrup (like this recipe), a pale variety, and a darker variety called black treacle. Who knew there was so much variety within syrups?
What You Need To Make Old School Treacle Sponge Pudding:
- 1-liter pudding basin
- 2 Mixing Bowls and Spatula
- Measuring Cups and Spoons
- Pastry Blender (optional)
- A Circle of Parchment Paper
- Aluminum Foil
- Bakers Twine
- Medium Saucepan
- Steamer (or an upturned plate)
- Serving Plate
How To Make Steamed Treacle Pudding:
Pudding and cake lovers will not be disappointed by this spongy, soft, and delicious treacle! You’ll feel like a professional baker after you flip your beautiful pudding onto its serving plate. Here are the steps (and don’t forget to get the full recipe with measurements, on the page down below):
-
Grease a medium, 1-liter pudding basin well with butter. Alternatively, you can use a heat resistant bowl.
-
In a medium mixing bowl, add in the flour, sugar, ginger, and baking soda and stir together.
-
Add the butter and rub in using your fingers or a pastry blender until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs.
-
In a separate bowl, mix together the egg, milk, golden syrup, and vanilla extract. Finely grate in the zest of the orange, then cut the orange and squeeze in the juice.
-
Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix them all together.
-
Pour some extra golden syrup into the pudding basin (about 5 tablespoons), then pour the cake mixture in on top of it.
-
Cover the pudding with a circle of greaseproof paper, followed by foil. Tie in place with baker’s twine.
-
In a large pot, place in a steamer. Pour in enough boiling water to reach the base of the steamer. If you don’t have a steamer, you can place the basin on an upturned plate.
-
Cover and steam for roughly 1 ½-2 hrs, topping up with water when necessary.
-
While still warm, remove the parchment and foil and turn the pudding onto a serving plate. Do this step while it’s warm so the sticky golden syrup layer stays in tack. Serve the pudding hot with Creme Anglaise or vanilla ice-cream.
- Store leftovers in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Gemma’s Pro Chef Tips For Classic Treacle Pudding:
- Don’t have a pudding basin? You can try this or use any round glass or porcelain bowl you have on hand.
- Never steamed a cake before? Here’s How To Steam A Christmas Pudding with step-by-step tips.
- Make your own golden syrup for extra homemade fun, or if you can’t find it in the store.
- Another substitute for golden syrup is dark corn syrup.
- Steam the pudding the day before and allow to sit overnight at room temperature for even better flavor.
- When steaming, make sure to keep the steamer topped up with boiling water as it evaporates off during the steaming.
How To Store Treacle Pudding:
You can store these delicious leftovers in the fridge for up to three days. Enjoy!
Make More Pudding!
- Chocolate Self-Saucing Pudding
- Microwave Christmas Pudding
- Traditional Irish Bread and Butter Pudding
And don’t forget to buy my Bigger Bolder Baking Cookbook!
Full (and printable) recipe below!
Try These Recipes!
Classic Steamed Treacle Pudding Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups (6 ¼oz/177g) all-purpose flour
- ⅓ cup (2oz/57g) dark brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ⅓ cup (2 ½oz/71g) cold butter cubed
- 1 large egg
- ⅔ cups (5floz/150ml) whole milk
- 1 tablespoon golden syrup plus extra for the basin
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 small orange, zest, and juice
Instructions
- Grease a medium, 1-liter pudding basin well with butter. Alternatively, you can use a heat resistant bowl.
- In a medium mixing bowl add in the flour, sugar, ginger, and baking soda and stir together.
- Add the butter and rub in using your fingers or a pastry blender until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs.
- In a separate mix together the egg, milk, golden syrup, and vanilla extract. Finely grate in the zest of the orange, then cut the orange and squeeze in the juice.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix them all together.
- Pour some extra golden syrup into the pudding basin (about 5 tablespoons), then pour the cake mixture in on top of it.
- Cover the pudding with a circle of greaseproof paper, followed by foil, and then tie in place with string.
- In a large pot, place in a steamer. Pour in enough boiling water to reach the base of the steamer. If you don't have a steamer you can place the basin on an upturned plate.
- Cover and steam for roughly 1 ½-2 hrs, topping up with water when necessary.
- While still warm, remove the parchment and foil and turn the pudding onto a serving plate. Do this step while it's warm so the sticky golden syrup layer stays in tack. Serve the pudding hot with Creme Anglaise or vanilla ice-cream. Store leftovers in the fridge for up to 3 days.
I don’t see molasses in the ingredients
Have you ever tried “steaming”/ cooking in an Instant Pot? Just wonder as I would like to try it. Might be done quicker?? If you have just wonder how long would you cook it?. Thanks.
Can I use a lemon instead of an orange.
Made it and it came out a dream. Took about 2h 20m though. Used fresh ginger which I added to the wet ingredients. Also used coconut treacle which is easily available here in Sri Lanka. Thank you for the recipe.
Hi Gemma, could I use grated fresh ginger in the recipe instead of dried ginger? (I tend not to use dried spices re: instances reported in random testings of them containing trace peanut from the production process, and therefore no guarantee they’re safe for me)
Hi Gemma, can I make this in one of those heavy cast iron, enamel covered Dutch oven roasters. If so, what time and temperature do you recommend?
Thank you
Hello Gemma,
I am going to make this and use my mother’s old (very old!) Christmas pudding steamer tin. My only concern is that the tin has a column in the middle. I’m planning on decreasing the oven time a bit.
Any other thoughts?
I’ll let you know how it works out!
Ty!
I made this I put the water to boil in a Dutch oven an put the mix in a small round bowl came out great boiled for nearly 3 hours but not a lot of flavour in the sponge what can I put in sponge ?. I used jam for the topping
Hello, I am making this for my Brit boyfriend for his birthday. I’ve never made it (I’ve never even had it!). This is probably a very basic question… I’m making it tonight and will store it in the fridge for 2 days before we eat it. The recipe says to serve hot. Do I just heat it up in the microwave before serving?
Wife and I made this a couple of days ago (our first try at a pudding!!). We used Karo Dark Syrup so we aren’t sure if it tastes like it’s supposed to. We really liked it but next time we’ll try using molasses in the batter and a Tbsp of molasses for the top. Not sure where to find golden syrup. We are working our way to trying the Sticky Toffee Pudding. I had that several years ago when visiting Ireland. Do you also have a recipe for Spotted Dick?