Where to buy SA's most delicious sticky toffee pudding

HOW WE CONDUCTED OUR TASTE TEST

It's free and fair!

We put out a call to Sunday Times readers to be part of the panel of tasters. Forty of them came together on a Saturday morning to taste ready-made sticky toffee puddings from leading supermarkets.

The chefs at HTA Culinary School in Randburg, Joburg, prepared the food as per the package instructions. The panel of tasters were presented with each of the products "naked" without any branding or packaging. They were asked to judge them according to their appearance, taste and texture and to say whether they would buy them or not.

Morne Kok, an internal auditor at Transaction Capital was on hand to monitor the objectivity of the blind-tasting process, from removing the packing to numbering the products, overseeing the preparation and adding up the scores.

THE RESULTS

FIRST PLACE: Pick n Pay Sticky toffee pudding

Price: R54.90 for 450g

Judges's comments:

• Graham: Light and succulent.
• Jennifer: Very nice texture and not too sweet.
• Judith: Buttery, soft and warm.
• Thami: Pudding well baked and delicious.
• Pearl: Tasted so delicious and almost luxurious. It could do with more sauce.
• Sahil: Good for 4-6 people but uneven sauce distribution.

SECOND PLACE: Woolworths Sticky toffee pudding

Price: R54.99 for 430g 

Judges's comments:

• Jacques: Very light and nice taste.
• Beryl: Bit cloggy, not my favourite.
• Pearl: Topping is sweet and the rest is a bit bland.
• Terry: Very dry texture even though there was lots of sauce.
• Sarah: Lots of sauce, great texture but still fairly bland.
• Sean: Tasty with sticky texture. Hmm.

THIRD PLACE: SPAR Sticky toffee pudding

Price: R39.99 for 450g 

Judges's comments:

• Jacques: I tasted coconut in the pudding - love it.
• Ian: Very little sauce.
• Jennifer: I didn't taste any toffee flavour, it is like a sponge pudding.
• Beryl: A bit dry and needs custard.
• Pearl: It smells great but that's the best part of it.
• Sahil: Good texture but very watered-down flavours.

FOURTH PLACE: Checkers Sticky toffee pudding

Price: R39.99 for 350g

Judges's comments: 

• Graham: It tastes like candle wax.
• Judith: Toffee looks like a gel. Dense and bready.
• John: A heavy and doughy pudding.
• Sahil: Absolutely terrible, no taste and sauce hardened.
• Terry: No flavour and slimy taste. No sauce.
• Nicolene: Boring. A dessert should never be boring.