This Vegan Self-Saucing Butterscotch Pudding creates its own rich, gooey sauce as it bakes! It's super indulgent, with a soft, fluffy sponge and a thick, caramel-flavoured sauce that forms underneath. It's also gluten-free and refined sugar free, and surprisingly easy to make! A comforting dessert that's perfect for Thanksgiving, Christmas and the winter season.
Self-saucing butterscotch pudding is a classic Australian home-baked dessert, which evolved from traditional British baked puddings. It consists of a pudding sponge, with a butterscotch sauce that forms underneath whilst baking.
Sticky Toffee Pudding is a popular British dessert consisting of a dark, dense, date-studded sponge, covered in a thick, dark toffee sauce. It's usually served with vanilla ice cream or custard.
You make self-saucing butterscotch pudding by putting a pudding sponge batter in a baking dish, topping it with a mixture of cornflour and sugar, then pouring hot water over it before baking. In the oven, the pudding sponge rises to the top, while a rich butterscotch sauce forms at the bottom of the baking dish.
Vegan self-saucing butterscotch pudding is made much in the same way as the traditional recipe! I used my normal sponge cake recipe as the pudding sponge batter, then topped it with a mixture of cornflour and sugar, and then hot water.
Self-saucing butterscotch pudding traditionally uses a lot of refined sugars, but it's very easy to make a refined sugar free version: just use coconut sugar in place of the normal sugar! For this recipe, coconut sugar works in a very similar way as normal refined sugar. And coconut sugar adds a deep, caramel-like flavour without making the pudding too sickly-sweet.
How to make this recipe
Scroll down to the bottom of the post for the full recipe.
- Mix together all the ingredients for the pudding batter in a mixing bowl.
Tip: Use a measuring jug to measure out the milk.
- Transfer into a baking dish - I used one measuring 26 cm (10 inch) by 18 cm (7 inch) and 7 cm (2 ½ inch) tall.
Tip: Make sure to smooth over the top of the pudding batter when you've transferred it into the baking dish.
- Mix together the cornflour and coconut sugar in a bowl.
Tip: Make sure you've mixed them together very well, because you won't get a chance to mix them together again later.
- Sprinkle it over the pudding batter in the baking dish.
Tip: Make sure to sprinkle it so that the entire surface of the batter is evenly covered.
- Pour the boiling hot water over the top of the cornflour and coconut sugar mixture.
Tip: Place the back of a large tablespoon between the water and the pudding batter to soften the pour, otherwise the water will go straight down and make a hole in the pudding batter!
- Make sure the top of the batter is completely covered with the hot water.
Tip: Pick up the baking dish and tap it against a table or counter surface a few times, to get rid of any air bubbles.
- Bake in the oven for around 30 minutes, until the cooked pudding sponge has risen to the top of the baking dish, the sauce has gone to the bottom, and a skewer inserted into the top sponge part comes out clean.
Tips for making the pudding
- Make sure to smooth over the top of the pudding batter when you've transferred it into the baking dish.
- Make sure you've mixed together the cornflour and coconut sugar very well before sprinkling on top of the pudding batter, because you won't get a chance to mix them together again later.
- You can replace the coconut sugar that you sprinkle on top with regular brown sugar, but not any other sweetener like maple syrup etc.
- But you can replace the coconut sugar in the pudding batter with regular cane sugar or any other sweetener such as maple syrup, agave syrup etc.
- Make sure to sprinkle the cornflour and coconut sugar mixture over the pudding batter in the baking dish, so that the entire surface of the batter is evenly covered.
- When pouring the boiling hot water over the top of the cornflour and coconut sugar mixture, place the back of a large tablespoon between the water and the pudding batter to soften the pour, otherwise the water will go straight down and make a hole in the pudding batter!
- Make sure the top of the batter is completely covered with the hot water.
- Pick up the baking dish and tap it against a table or counter surface a few times, to get rid of any air bubbles.
- Bake in the oven until the cooked pudding sponge has risen to the top of the baking dish, the sauce has gone to the bottom, and a skewer inserted into the top sponge part comes out clean.
How to serve this Self-Saucing Butterscotch Pudding
There are several different ways you can serve this pudding:
- Vegan vanilla ice cream.
- Vegan coconut whipped cream.
- Custard - this custard powder is my favourite as it's made with just few simple ingredients and it's vegan, gluten-free and completely free from sugar.
Substitutions you can make to this recipe
- You can use any type of oil: coconut oil, olive oil or vegetable oil.
- You can use any type of plant-based milk: almond milk, rice milk, soy milk, cashew milk, oat milk etc.
- You can replace the coconut sugar (in the topping) with regular brown sugar, but not any other sweetener like maple syrup etc.
- You can replace the coconut sugar (in the pudding batter) with regular cane sugar or any other sweetener such as maple syrup, agave syrup etc.
- You can replace the vinegar with lemon juice.
- You can replace the ground almonds (almond meal) with ground walnuts.
- For a nut-free version: replace the ground almonds (almond meal) with ground sunflower seeds or use 30g (¼ cup) coconut flour instead of 150g (1 ¼ cup) ground almonds.
- You can use plain flour, wholemeal (whole wheat) flour or spelt flour instead of the gluten-free flour if you're not gluten-free.
- If you prefer a chocolate version, you can use my Vegan Chocolate Self-Saucing Pudding recipe instead!
How long does this Self-Saucing Butterscotch Pudding keep for?
- It tastes best fresh out of the oven, as the sauce doesn't stay runny when cold.
- But it does keep covered in the fridge for up to a few days - the sauce won't stay runny though.
More similar vegan desserts
- Rice Pudding
- Bread Pudding
- Lemon Pudding
- Christmas Pudding
- Strawberry Trifle
- Sticky Toffee Pudding
- Chocolate Fudge Pudding
If you try out this recipe or anything else from my blog, I'd really love to hear any feedback! Please give it a rating, leave a comment, or tag a photo @rhiansrecipes #rhiansrecipes on Instagram! Thank you.
Vegan Self-Saucing Butterscotch Pudding (Gluten-Free)
Ingredients
For the pudding batter:
- 60 g (¼ cup) coconut oil (or sub olive or vegetable oil)
- 200 ml (⅘ cup) unsweetened almond milk (or any plant-based milk)
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar * (ensure gluten-free if necessary)
- 8 tablespoons coconut sugar (or sub regular sugar or any other sweetener such as maple syrup)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Pinch
salt
- 150 g (1 ¼ cup) ground almonds (almond meal) **
- 150 g (1 ¼ cup) gluten-free flour blend (or sub plain flour if not gluten-free)
- 2 heaped teaspoons baking powder (ensure gluten-free if necessary)
- ¼ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
For topping:
- 40 g (⅓ cup) cornflour (cornstarch)
- 160 g (1 cup) coconut sugar (or sub regular brown sugar)
- 550 ml (2 ⅓ cups) boiling hot water
Instructions
For the pudding batter:
- Place the coconut oil in a large bowl and melt over a saucepan of boiling water or in the microwave (skip this step if using any other oil).
- Once melted, add the milk to the same bowl along with the vinegar, coconut sugar, vanilla, salt and ground almonds.
- Sift in the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda.
- Mix well, adding a tiny splash more milk if it's looking too dry.
- Transfer the batter into a baking dish - I used one measuring 26 cm (10 inch) by 18 cm (7 inch) and 7 cm (2 ½ inch) tall.
- Make sure to smooth over the top of the pudding batter when you've transferred it into the baking dish.
For the topping:
- Mix together the cornflour and coconut sugar in a bowl. Make sure you've mixed them together very well, because you won't get a chance to mix them together again later.
- Sprinkle it over the pudding batter in the baking dish - make sure to sprinkle it so that the entire surface of the batter is evenly covered.
- Pour the boiling hot water over the top of the cornflour and coconut sugar mixture - place the back of a large tablespoon between the water and the pudding batter to soften the pour, otherwise the water will go straight down and make a hole in the pudding batter!
- Make sure the top of the batter is completely covered with the hot water.
- Pick up the baking dish and tap it against a table or counter surface a few times, to get rid of any air bubbles.
To bake:
- Bake in oven for around 30 minutes, until the cooked pudding sponge has risen to the top of the baking dish, the sauce has gone to the bottom, and a skewer inserted into the top sponge part comes out clean.
- It tastes best fresh out of the oven, as the sauce doesn't stay runny when cold. But it does keep covered in the fridge for up to a few days - the sauce won't stay runny though.
- Serve with vegan vanilla ice cream, vegan coconut whipped cream or custard!
Notes
Disclosure: This posts contains affiliate links to Amazon. If you purchase any of these products, a small percentage will come to me with no extra cost to you! This income will go towards the running of this blog - thank you.
Anonymous
Looks so good!!
Rhian Williams
Thank you so much!