Kate Middleton's favourite sweet treat is perfect for an alternative festive pudding, here's the royal recipe

(Image credit: Getty Images)

published 9 October 2023

Kate Middleton's favourite dessert has been revealed by a former royal chef and it would make the perfect alternative Christmas pudding.

While Christmas might still feel like long way off, families are already starting to work out their Christmas plans, from buying the best toy advent calendars for kids to booking their Christmas food delivery slots while avoiding the worst supermarkets for Xmas food deliveries.

And Christmas dinner wouldn't be complete without a dessert - but if you're looking for an alternative that will go down a treat with the whole family, then Kate Middleton's favourite dessert just might do the trick.

The Princess of Wales is said to be particularly fond of sticky toffee pudding with chocolate sauce, according to former royal Chef Darren McGrady.

"Although I have never actually cooked for the Duchess of Cambridge, I know that sticky toffee pudding was one of her favourites," he told Delish.

"I know Kate would love this." He went on to reveal a quick swap at Buckingham Palace made the dish creamier.

"The original sticky toffee pudding recipe had apricots in. And at Buckingham Palace we changed it to dates, and these make it much creamier and much richer in my opinion."

How to make Kate Middleton's favourite Sticky Toffee Pudding

Ingredients and method:

Coat chopped dates with bicarb soda in a bowl and add boiling water. Stir until the soda dissolves and leave to cool.
Add all the sauce ingredients together and bring to a boil before simmering for four minutes. Pour 1.5 cups into a greased two pint pudding basin and allow to cool (save the rest for pouring over the pudding to serve)
Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, add the egg, vanilla essence and keep beating. Fold in the flour and baking powder and add the date mix and chocolate chips.
Spoon into a bowl on top of the cold sauce.
Pour into a pudding bowl and steam over a pan of hot water for one hour.
To serve add the remainder of the sauce and a dollop of whipped cream.

For the pudding:
6oz of medjool dates, pitted and each cut into 8 pieces
1tsp bicarb soda
1/2 pint boiling water
1 Egg
2oz Butter
6oz all purpose flour
6oz granulated sugar
1tsp vanilla paste
1tsp baking powder
1 cup of Scharffen Berger chocolate chunks
Whipped cream
For the Sauce:
11oz dark Muscovado sugar
7oz unsalted butter
1/2 cup of Scharffen Berger chocolate chunks
9tbsp heavy cream

Darren told Delish, "This is how we prepared it at Buckingham Palace," he added that 'the Queen loved this at Sandringham when it was really cold outside, and when she was at Balmoral, and the rest of the royal family did too.'

In other royal news, King Charles reveals his hopes that granddaughter Princess Charlotte will ‘look after him’ when he is ‘very old’ and Which Royal was given a £120,000 birthday ‘card’ for their first birthday? (it’s not who you’d expect)or in family news, take a look at these Prime Day toy deals to bag your family a bargain before the big day.

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Selina is a Senior Family Writer for GoodtoKnow and has more than 16 years years of experience. She specialises in royal family news, including the latest activities of Prince George, Charlotte, Louis, Archie and Lilibet. She also covers the latest government, health and charity advice for families. Selina graduated from the University of Sheffield in 2006 with a degree in Journalism, and gained her NCTJ and NCE qualifications. During her career, she’s also written for Woman, Woman's Own, Woman&Home, and Woman's Weekly as well as Heat magazine, Bang Showbiz - and the Scunthorpe Telegraph. When she's not covering family news, you can find her exploring new countryside walking routes, catching up with friends over good food, or making memories (including award-winning scarecrows!)