Beguiled by a British 'pudding'

When it comes to desserts, the British have made a fine art of bestowing intriguing names on their favorite sweets. They have clootie dumplings and black bun, as well as trifle and spotted dog. But of all the dessert names I saw during a trip to Britain, it was the sticky toffee pudding that made the biggest impression. No sooner had I spied it on a hotel menu in the village of Grange-over-Sands than I found myself counting the minutes till dinnertime, when I could sample my first taste.

To my surprise, when the waiter finally placed the anticipated treat in front of me, I discovered this "pudding" wasn't a pudding at all, at least not by American standards. It bore no resemblance to the thick and creamy chocolate, rice, bread, custard, or butterscotch puddings that had long since won my heart. Sticky toffee pudding turned out to be what I would classify as a cake – a moist confection studded with bits of dates, bathed in a puddle of warm caramel sauce, and crowned with a billowy mound of whipped cream.

It didn't take me long to figure out that the British definition of pudding was more inclusive than my limited concept of the word. Any sweet conclusion to a meal appeared to qualify. It also didn't take me long to develop an attachment to this rich treat. Whenever I saw sticky toffee pudding listed on a menu during my stay in Britain, I ordered it.

From England's quaint Lake District country inns to waterfront cafes in the Scottish Highlands, I compared tastes and textures and silently rated each version in my unofficial dessert contest.

Fortunately, locating a recipe before I left for home was easy. I found one printed on a postcard sold in a Cumbrian village store and promptly bought it, hoping the instructions would help me replicate the combination of flavors I'd grown so fond of.

Once I returned to my own kitchen, I made a trial batch that surpassed my expectations. But being a curious cook, I wanted to know more than just how to make this beguiling dessert. I wanted to learn its origins as well.

With such an old-fashioned name, sticky toffee pudding sounded as if it should have a venerable history. Yet, an initial perusal of time-honored English cookbooks proved me wrong. My quarry wasn't to be found anywhere in their pages.

Perplexed, I turned to the Internet to unearth some answers. When more than 230,000 links popped up in response to my search – including more recipes than the most dedicated baker might care to tackle – I realized that the rest of the world was obviously not as clueless as I about this lush dessert.

Contrary to what I had assumed, sticky toffee pudding is a relative newcomer on the culinary scene. While there's some dispute over its beginnings, the majority opinion seems to credit an English hotelier/chef with inventing the recipe in the 1960s. Once people began tasting his memorable creation, its fame spread way beyond the borders of the British Empire.

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