Malva pudding

Malva pudding is a favorite South African dessert that's pure comfort food. It's made up of a sponge-like base, soaked in a creamy sauce. It's sweet, rich, moist and delicious.

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Many places have an official or semi-recognized national dish or dishes, like Wiener schnitzel in Austria, ropa vieja in Cuba and fish amok in Cambodia. On the whole, having a national dessert is less common though some places will still have some popular favorites.

South Africa's national dish is generally considered to be bobotie (and I can understand why!) and it has two desserts that are often considered national favorites - milk tart and malva pudding. Both are delicious, have a comforting creaminess, but are also quite different. 

Origins of malva pudding

While you might think being a national favorite that this is an old fashioned dessert, it seems it's actually a more recent creation. It certainly has it's roots in Dutch Afrikaans cooking, and is like some other puddings that have been around a while. It is also similar to British sticky toffee pudding, though the flavors and some of the method are different. 

Malva pudding in fact only became popular in the 1980s. It was first served at Boschendal Winery's restaurant in 1978, where South African food and wine expert, Michael Olivier, who was working there, asked Maggie Peplar to step in to run the kitchen during the regular chef's vacation.

Her recipe for this dessert was added to the menu and became an instant favorite with guests, and was soon copied elsewhere. You'll now find a range of variations on the original, with some using different jams in the base, others adding some nuts, chocolate, spices or other additions. 

Whatever the variation, it's a relatively easy dessert to make and full of sweet comforting flavor. So it's probably no surprise it has quickly found widespread popularity. Apparently, it was one of Nelson Mandela's favorites. 

Malva pudding ingredients

Here I have kept as close as possible to the original with a relatively short list of ingredients. The sponge-like base is made up of:

• Flour, salt, milk, egg and butter - all relatively standard ingredients for cakes/puddings. Some add more egg and less milk, most use only a little butter but some add more.
• Sugar - also typical, and you will see versions with both white and brown sugar. I've yet to find clarity on which is more typical. So I think much is just what you prefer, and it's an excuse to have more often as you experiment!
• Baking soda - this helps it rise to lighten the base.
• Vinegar - one of the ingredients that may seem more unusual and is a key part of the flavor. Just a little helps the milk be more like buttermilk and gives a slight tang.
• Apricot jam - another key, and less typical ingredient, this adds to the flavor as well as sweetness.
• Vanilla - this helps add to and bring out the other flavors.

You then bake the base and pour over a sauce while still warm, which is made of:

• Cream - this helps give that wonderful richness. Some use evaporrated milk but I prefer cream flavor-wise.
• Sugar - this helps the sauce be slightly caramel in flavor. How sweet varies, though it is a relatively sweet dessert.
• Butter and vanilla - these add to the richness and flavor.

Tips for making this

This is a relatively easy dish to make, with only a little mixing and easy cooking. For the base, you mix the baking soda and salt through the flour to help them be better incorporated. Believe me, you don't want to get a mouthful of either accidentally.

Then, you add the vanilla and vinegar to the milk then cream together the sugar, butter, egg and apricot jam. Don't worry if it doesn't become all that light or glossy, but well mixed is good.

Add the milk mixture and flour mixture alternately to the egg-sugar mixture. You want everything incorporated but try not to over-mix (though it's less of an issue compared to some batters). Pour into a baking dish then bake. Don't worry, it will seem pretty liquid - this is fine. It will transform into a lovely light, airy pudding with a golden color.

Warm the sauce ingredients in the last couple minutes of baking so it stays warm. It may form a slight skin if left - if so, just stir to dissolve it into the sauce.

Check the pudding is baked properly by testing the middle with a skewer - it should come out clean. Then make holes all over to help the sauce soak in.

Pour roughly half of the sauce over before waiting a minute or two before adding more. If you add it all at once, it may overflow your dish, but also you may be uneven in soaking. You still may get more at the edges, but hopefully less so if you pour in stages.

It can be tempting to dive straight in, but give it a couple minutes to soak up all that sauce. Then it will have the most wonderful, sticky sheen on top and be moist and tender inside.

How to serve this dessert

While as I say you do want to wait a little bit of time for the dessert to soak in the sauce, it is still best enjoyed warm. So probably ideally, you just want to wait 15 minutes or so for most of the sauce to soak in, then enjoy.

Despite being rich, you often serve this with either ice cream or custard (or sometimes both). You can also serve it with cream. I find it's easier to scoop it when it's first out the oven, at least for the first piece, but then it cuts in slices well after that, if you want neater portions.

Since it's quite rich, you probably don't want particularly large portions. I often try to make things work for less people, as we are, that you can then scale up, though this is harder to do so, what with using one egg.

However, it does keep and re-heat well to enjoy over the course of a couple days. Simply allow it to cool, cover and store it in the fridge. You can re-heat either in a low oven or in the microwave. It's just as moist and delicious!

South African malva pudding may be a relatively recent creation, but it's understandably a national favorite. It's easy to make, comforting and flavorful, and sure to satisfy any sweet tooth (and even be enjoyed by those generally less into desserts!). It's a shame it's not more widely known, but don't let that stop you enjoying this wonderful treat.

Try these other comforting desserts:

• Lemon pudding cake (aka lemon delicious, a self-saucing dessert with lots of citrus tang)
• Germknödel (a lovely soft steamed sweet dumpling filled with plum butter or jam)
• Panettone bread and butter pudding (a delicious way to repurpose panettone)
• Plus get more dessert recipes and South African recipes in the archives.

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