The Best Traditional Malva Pudding

History/Background

Malva pudding is a quintessential sweet, comforting traditional South African dessert. Traditional malva pudding consists of a sponge layer that has been flavored with apricot jam (which can be found in probably every single South African kitchen or pantry), and leavened with baking soda (bicarbonate of soda/bread soda) and vinegar. While the sponge is baking, a sauce consisting of cream, butter, and sugar is heated and poured over the Malva cake as soon as it comes out of the oven. This results in a delightfully sweet, soft, comforting pudding that can be served with a nice vanilla custard, fresh cream, or a scoop of vanilla ice cream. 

This traditional dessert can be found in any supermarket in South Africa and found on the menus of many restaurants across the country. And every family and every South African cookbook has a Malva Pudding recipe.

Where Does the Name Malva Pudding originate?

There are a few origin stories regarding this classic South African dessert. The first is that it comes from the Afrikaans word malvalekker which means “marshmallow”. A translation then being "marshmallow pudding". And while the pudding is soft, spongey, and sweet, I don't personally see the resemblance. 

The second theory is Malva is Afrikaans for geranium. That the leaves of the geranium may have been used to flavor the pudding batter. A direct translation here is - geranium pudding.

A third theory is that the sauce for the original pudding was made using Malvasia (malmsey) wine which may have then been replaced with brandy and sherry, years later. Or, the pudding was just paired with Malvasia wine.

A Note on Pudding

Malvapoeding/ malva pudding is unlike an American pudding which is usually more custard-based, or even a mousse. In South Africa (and in many Commonwealth countries such as Australia and New Zealand), a pudding can refer to baked puddings (such as Malvapoeding, Tipsy Tart (Cape Brandy Pudding), self-saucing pudding, or sticky toffee pudding), steamed or boiled puddings, bread puddings, milk-based puddings, and even jellies (or Jell-O for my American readers). 

Pudding can also refer to several savory dishes such as Yorkshire pudding or black pudding. 

Why You Will Love This South African Malva Pudding

• A few simple ingredients are all that is needed for this traditional South African dessert.
• This sweet pudding (or dessert) is the perfect ending to any meal for any special occasion.
• The soft texture of the pudding makes for a great comforting fall or winter dessert. 
• This pudding can be made ahead of time and frozen for up to 2 months. Simply defrost in the fridge overnight and heat up on the day of!

Ingredients

Malva Pudding Sponge

• White/caster sugar/granulated sugar: this is key to the flavor profile of the Malva pudding sponge which needs to be delicate and flavored with the apricot jam. Because the sugar is beaten into the eggs, it acts as a leavening agent in the sponge as well.
• Apricot jam: traditional flavor profile for the Malva sponge, however, if you need a substitute for the apricot jam - I have used honey, golden syrup, or maple syrup in a jam (pun intended) with great results.
• Eggs: the two eggs in this recipe, play an important role in the leavening of the cake as the eggs and sugar are beaten together. I use New Zealand size 6 eggs which are around the same size as Australian and South African Large Eggs, but closer to a US/Europe Medium sized egg.
• Butter: this recipe calls for butter, but if you only have margarine on hand, it will work just fine.
• Milk: regular whole milk is called for in this recipe. And is made acidic with the addition of vinegar.
• Vinegar - you can use malt vinegar, white vinegar, white wine vinegar, or apple cider vinegar. The vinegar reacts with the baking soda in the batter, allowing the batter to rise during the baking. It also adds to the flavor profile.  
• the use of vinegar will result in the curdling of the milk. But adds to the flavor profile.
• Baking soda: the preferred leavening agent because of the addition of vinegar and apricot jam. If you do not have baking soda, replace it with 3 teaspoons of baking powder and leave out the vinegar completely.
• Plain flour (all-purpose flour/standard grade flour) refers to flour that has a protein content of approximately 9.5-12%. 

Pudding Sauce

• Evaporated milk (Ideal Milk) lends the sauce a slight caramel flavor that is enhanced with the addition of brown sugar. However, you can substitute the evaporated milk with cream, or half-cream and half-milk. Evaporated milk is sometimes known as unsweetened condensed milk. It is basically a shelf-stable milk in which 60% of the water has been removed.
• Brown sugar gives the sauce a delicious caramel flavor.
• Butter adds a richness that just can’t be matched with margarine. But if you have to, it’s okay, I won’t tell anyone.
• Water helps thin out the sauce so that it can reach every nook and cranny of the sponge. If you are feeling a little naughty, you can replace the water with either brandy or sherry.

Room Temperature Ingredients

Use room-temperature ingredients! Using room temperature ingredients ensures that ingredients in the batter or dough will incorporate easier. Take note that room temperature refers to around 20°C/68F.

• To bring eggs to room temperature quickly, place them into warm water for about 10 to 15 minutes.
• To bring butter to room temperature quickly, cut the butter into cubes and zap it in the microwave at 20% power in 10-second intervals. Or place the cubes in a bowl over warm water (such as with a double boiler) over low heat for 1 minute!
• Milk, buttermilk, and cream can be brought to room temperature by zapping in the microwave at 20% power in 10-second intervals. Or on low heat for a minute or two swirling every 10-15 seconds.
• If the butter is too warm/soft for baking - pop it into the fridge for 20-30 minutes.

Weighing and Measuring Ingredients

Weighing ingredients with a kitchen scale is more accurate than using measuring cups. All my recipes are developed and tested using grams only.

However, I have activated the metric-to-cup conversions. Simply click on "USA/Cups" or "metric" for your preferred measurements. For these conversions, cups are equal to 240mL/8 fl oz, tablespoons are 15mL and teaspoons are 5mL.

Reduced-Sugar Variation

Malva pudding is quite a rich pudding with a decent amount of sugar. If I was looking to reduce the overall sugar content, I definitely would not reduce the sugar in the sponge or malva cake portion, as the eggs here play an important role in leavening the cake, and reducing the sugar here would not only impact the texture but the taste as well. 

But I would perhaps look at reducing/halving the amount of sugar in the sauce. Take note that I haven't actually tried this, but this would be the first way in which I reduced the sugar. Additionally, this dessert is really good on its own and doesn't need anything else. So skipping the custard or ice cream is the simplest way to reduce the overall sugar of the dessert. 

Small-Batch Malva Pudding

This Malva pudding can easily be halved by clicking on the "½: button above the ingredients, and baked in a smaller casserole/baking dish (that has a 1.2-1.5L volume). If I was halving the recipe, I would probably make the sauce with cream so as to not have half a tin of evaporated milk bouncing around the fridge. 

Step-By-Step Instructions

1 - Preheat the oven to 180°C/355°F. Grease a large glass or ceramic ovenproof dish (I used a 9 Inch or 23cm square baking dish). 

2 - Place the sugar, eggs, and apricot jam in a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, and beat (with a whisk attachment) until the mixture is light and fluffy (this takes about 3-5 minutes). This can be done by hand. 

3 -  Sieve the flour, baking soda, and salt into the egg mixture. Mix until just combined. The batter with be thick.

4 - Either in a small saucepan, or a microwave-proof bowl or jug, heat together the milk, butter, and vinegar, mixing until combined. The mixture will curdle. This is fine.

5 - Add the butter mixture to the batter and whisk until a smooth batter forms. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and make sure everything is well combined.

7 - During the last 10 minutes of the sponge baking, combine all sauce ingredients in a saucepan. Stir the ingredients together on medium-high heat until the butter is completely melted, the sugar is dissolved, and the sweet sauce is heated all the way through. 

8 - Once the sponge is baked, remove it from the oven. Prick all over the pudding with a cake tester, skewer, or toothpick. Pour the sauce over the top of the pudding. At first, it will look as if there is too much sauce, but it will be rapidly absorbed into the sponge. 

9 - Serve the warm pudding with some fresh cream, custard, or a scoop of ice cream. 

Expert Tips for This Recipe

Because this a pudding with a long baking time, that is meant to be served warm, I highly recommend baking it in a ceramic or glass dish. 

Cover the Malva pudding during the first half of the baking really allows the sponge to rise without the top browning too quickly, and inhibiting the rising process. If your dish doesn't come with a lid, cover the pudding with tin foil or aluminum foil. 

Ovens and Air-Fryers

The temperatures stated are for conventional ovens. For convection, fan-forced, fan-assisted, or air-fryers, the temperature must be reduced by 20°C/25°F.

For baking, make sure the oven is fully preheated, and that the rack is in the middle of the oven. Open the oven as little as possible. For best baking results use an oven thermometer.

Remember that all ovens work slightly differently and bake times may need to be adjusted for your specific oven.

Storage and Freezing

Store this pudding covered in the fridge for 4 to 5 days. I recommend reheating the pudding in the microwave before serving. 

This pudding can be frozen for up to 2 months. Make sure the pudding is sealed in an airtight container. Allow it to defrost in the fridge overnight before serving. Heat in the oven or the microwave before serving. 

Malva Pudding FAQ

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