Can I Use Evaporated Milk Instead Of Cream For The Sticky Toffee Pudding Sauce?

Our answer

Nigella's Sticky Toffee Pudding (from AT MY TABLE) is slightly more grown up than the traditional version of this dessert, with treacle adding a slightly bitter edge to balance the sweetness of the sponge and sauce.

The toffee sauce is a mixture of butter, treacle (molasses), dark muscovado (dark brown sugar) and double (or heavy/whipping cream), melted together. It may be possible to substitute the cream with evaporated milk, but we feel that the texture and taste of the sauce will be different and so it is not something we would particularly recommend. Evaporated milk has a fat content of around 9%, whereas most creams have a fat content of 38-45%, which means that if you use evaporated milk in the sauce then it will not taste quite as rich or be quite as thick as the original. If you have trouble finding fresh cream then you could use a UHT cream for the sauce instead, but try to find one with the highest fat content possible. UHT cream does not whip well but it is good for cooking and in sauces.