Traditional South African Malva Pudding

It’s still winter here in South Africa. Enough reason to bake a warm pudding!

Malva pudding is the mother of all South African puddings. Among other things, there is apricot jam in the batter with a sauce consisting of butter, cream and sugar. Yes, you guessed it … it’s rich, moist, spongy and delicious.

*Meaning of “malva”: If we are talking about flowers, a “malva” can translate to geranium/mallow. But it can also refer to the soft pink and white marshmallows (“malvalekkers”). I think in this case the pudding refers more to marshmallows than the flower because it is so soft and spongy.

Put it on the table:

You should have all the ingredients for this recipe in your pantry and preparing this is probably faster than brewing a cup of tea.

Let’s start with the batter:

Ingredients for Malva Pudding

15ml butter

125ml sugar

1 egg

30ml apricot jam

250ml cake flour

2ml salt

5ml baking powder

125ml milk

15ml vinegar

5ml baking soda (bicarbonate of soda)

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F and grease an ovenproof dish.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the sugar and butter until it lightens and becomes a little fluffier. Add the egg and jam and mix well.

Beat sugar and butter

Add egg and jam and mix

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt over the sugar mixture. Add the milk, vinegar and baking soda together and stir into the flour and butter mixture to form a batter.

Sift the dry ingredients

Mix milk, vinegar and baking soda

Add milk mixture into flour and butter mixture

Pour the batter into a lightly greased ovenproof dish and bake for 45 to 50 minutes.

Ready for the oven

Baked Malva pudding after 45 minutes in the oven

Time for the sauce:

Ingredients for sauce

½ cup butter

125ml sugar

60ml water

180ml cream

5ml vanilla essence

Melt the butter, sugar and water over moderate heat in a saucepan. Stir constantly until the sugar has dissolved.

Melt butter, sugar and water

Remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in the cream and vanilla essence.

Add cream and vanilla essence – the sauce is ready

Prick the pudding a few times with a fork or skewer to help the sauce sink in. Then pour the hot sauce over the hot pudding … slowly and make sure you don’t leave any part dry.

Soaked Malva pudding

Now comes the hardest decision: Should you eat the pudding with homemade custard or cold ice cream? In our house I prefer the custard and Berto ice cream … either way, both are equally delicious!

Ice cream or custard?

My favourite pudding – Malva pudding with custard