This Kahlua and cream sauce for bread pudding cooks in 5 minutes in one pot. It’s a creamy, silky sauce that is perfect on almost any dessert.
Be sure to check out my recipe for gluten-free bread pudding. This sauce would also be an amazing topping for waffles, French toast, pancakes or crepes or even ice cream.
I have several other bread pudding sauces, including my brandy white chocolate sauce, creamy rum sauce and an alcohol-free apple caramel sauce.
Ingredients
Kahlua – Kahlua is a sweet, coffee flavored liqueur. Its boozy, bittersweet flavor is perfect with a sweet dessert like bread pudding.
Evaporated milk – creates a thick creamy base for this sauce. I am mostly dairy-free so I use evaporated coconut milk. With the Kahlua, the flavor coconut milk pretty much disappeared.
Cream or a dairy-free cream substitute like Nut Pods unsweetened provides a little rich texture to the sauce.
Since the Kahlua is quite sweet already the sauce just needs two tablespoons of sugar.
Butter adds flavor and a silky texture to the sauce. If you avoid dairy, use a plant-based butter substitute like Miyokos Vegan Cultured Butter.
A slurry of cornstarch and water will thicken the sauce to a nice creamy, silky, pourable texture. If you avoid corn, tapioca starch can be used also.
How to Make the Sauce
The sauce cooks up in just a few minutes in one pot.
- Heat the evaporated milk, Kahlua, cream, butter and sugar in a small pot over medium heat, stirring often.
- Heat it to a simmer (gently bubbling).
- While stirring, pour in the cornstarch and water slurry.
- Turn the heat to medium-high and stir until the mixture boils and thickens.
- Let it cool slightly before using.
- Serve warm or at room temperature.
- Keep refrigerated.
Make Ahead
Prepare the sauce as directed and let it cool for 15 minutes. Pour it into an airtight container, like a mason jar. Keep it refrigerated until you are ready to warm it up for your bread pudding. The sauce will be fresh for at least 7 days.
To reheat:
- Either heat on the stovetop over low-medium heat, whisking as it heats, or
- Heat in the microwave for 15 seconds, stir and heat for another 10 seconds.
Kahlua and Cream Sauce for Bread Pudding
Ingredients
- 1½ tsp corn starch mixed with 1½ tsp water
- ¾ c evaporated milk or evaporated coconut milk
- ¼ c cream or dairy-free cream sub like Nut Pods unsweetened
- ¼ c Kahlua
- 4 Tbsp butter
- ¼ tsp espresso powder
- 2 Tbsp sugar
Instructions
- Mix the corn starch and water together in a small bowl and set aside.
- In a small pot over medium heat, heat the evaporated milk, Kahlua, cream, butter and sugar. Stir often and bring the mixture simmer (gently bubbling).
- Stir the corn starch slurry. While stirring, the milk/Kahlua mixture, pour in the corn starch and water slurry.
- Turn the heat to medium-high and stir until the mixture boils and thickens.
- Let the sauce cool slightly before using. Serve warm or at room temperature.
- Keep refrigerated. The sauce will thicken even more when refrigerated. Heat for 10 seconds in the microwave to loosen the consistency.
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