Many puddings are surrounded by legends and this is one of them. It is said that the sticky toffee pudding was invented in the 1960s by Francis Coulson of the Sharrow Bay Hotel by the majestic Ullswater in the Lake District. He called it an ‘icky sticky toffee sponge’. I have pondered this legend and the original recipe – which is said to be locked away in the hotel’s vault – while I was enjoying the first s