Buffalo’s Black Sheep Sticky Toffee Pudding is Back

When the Gedras closed their West Side restaurant, The Black Sheep, in 2022, many lamented the gooey toffee pudding. Comments on their restaurant’s farewell post were full of references to sticky toffee pudding and crying emojis. The dessert, which has its own pinstill appears occasionally on the Buffalo subreddit, such as when someone asked how to create it earlier this year. But the recipe is secret. (Tradition has it that the Gedras once refused an offer of $10,000 for the recipe.)

“It’s become part of our heritage,” Gedra said. “This thing seems to have taken on a life of its own.”

And now, Gedras’ sticky toffee pudding is on sale again in Buffalo.

Steve Gedra, now managing partner and chef at Saint Neri, sells deconstructed batches of sticky toffee pudding for $12 each at Farm Shop Buffalo (235 Lexington Ave.). Gedra makes 48 puddings each week in Saint Neri’s kitchen and transports them 150 feet to the Farm Shop every Friday.

Each dessert includes three containers – a plastic pint containing a slice of date cake, a half-pint of caramel sauce and a half-pint of whipped cream – and printed heating instructions from Gedra. Heat the cake and caramel sauce at home following Gedra’s advice and top with a big dollop of whipped cream.

Gedra said he hopes to sell the pudding in more stores, such as Lexington Co-op and Tops Markets, as well as national food delivery platform Goldbelly.

At the Farm Shop, the sticky toffee pudding shares shelf space with other local foods that are hard to find elsewhere in Buffalo, especially under the same roof. Owner Kelcey Gurtler runs a cozy shop of produce and foods from more than 20 local farmers and producers, from Savage Wheat Project’s sourdough cheese crackers, which one shopper accurately described recently as “Cheez-its healthy”, to the conchas of Colibrí Panadería and those of Ernie’s Pop Shop. ice creams.

Gurtler has eaten at James Beard-nominated Gedras restaurants for years. When she was a student, she traded cookies for meals at Bistro Europa.

Since she started stocking the sticky toffee pudding a few weeks ago, it has been a hit. Gedra replenishes its reserves on Saturday morning.

“It brings a sense of warm nostalgia,” Gurtler said. “It was such a comfort food and a staple for so many people in Buffalo for so long.”

Gedra said nostalgia can drive demand, but there’s also taste.

“It kind of hits every note,” Gedra said. “It’s rich. It’s salty. It’s sweet… there’s a lot of nostalgia in there, but it’s obviously a delicious thing to have.