Recipe
🍰 DESSERT
Malva Pudding
A sticky apricot-jam sponge drenched in hot cream sauce, South Africa's best-known baked pudding.
South African · easy · serves 8
prep 15 min · cook 40 min
~458 cal · 4g protein · 58g carbs · 24g fat · 1g fiber · 37g sugars · 15g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Malva pudding is South Africa's best-loved baked dessert, a sweet, sticky sponge of Cape Dutch origin that appears at Sunday lunches, braais, and holiday tables across the country. Warm, gooey, and comforting, it is the definition of South African home baking.
The batter contains apricot jam and a spoon of vinegar, which reacts with the bicarbonate of soda in the batter to give the sponge its characteristically soft, caramelised, spongy texture. The real magic comes after baking: a hot sauce of cream, butter, and sugar is poured over the sponge straight from the oven, soaking in to make it wonderfully moist. Served warm with custard or ice cream, it is pure comfort.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian and nut- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 8
1 1/2 cups flour
1 egg
1/2 cup apricot jam
1 cup sugar
1 tbsp vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk (for the batter)
1/2 cup hot water (for the sauce)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup butter
1 cup cream (for the sauce)
Instructions
1
Beat the egg with the sugar and apricot jam until pale and fluffy, then sift in the flour, baking soda, and salt.
2
Warm the milk with a little melted butter and the vinegar until combined, then whisk that into the batter until smooth.
✎ Chef’s note
The milk will curdle when the vinegar goes in. That is meant to happen, and together with the bicarb it is what gives malva its open, drinkable crumb.
3
Bake in a dish at 350F (180C) until risen and springy, about 30 minutes.
4
Make the sauce: warm the cream, remaining butter, sugar, and the hot water together until the sugar dissolves.
✎ Chef’s note
Pour the hot sauce over the hot sponge the moment it leaves the oven, so it drinks in every drop and turns meltingly moist.
5
Prick the hot pudding all over, pour the sauce over it (it will look like far too much, and it will all be absorbed), and serve warm with custard or thin cream.
Cape Dutch baking tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Western Cape. The province is a wine and wheat region on a Mediterranean climate: wet winters, dry summers, vines through the Boland valleys and a cold Atlantic on the other side bringing snoek and crayfish. The braai is a social form more than a technique, an open fire that is a reason to gather rather than a fast way to cook.
🗺️
South Africa. Cape Malay cooking came from people enslaved and exiled to the Cape from the Indonesian archipelago, India and Sri Lanka under Dutch rule, and it brought cinnamon, cumin and dried fruit into a European framework. Bobotie is where the argument sits: Cape Malay and Dutch parentage are both defensible and neither has been settled.
🌍
Africa. Africa's fifty-four nations hold cuisines as different as Morocco's slow-cooked tagines and South Africa's open-fire braai, yet shared threads run through them: ancient grains like millet, sorghum, and teff; stews thickened with groundnut, okra, or palm; and fiery condiments from Tunisian harissa to Ethiopian berbere. Staple starches, fufu, injera, ugali, couscous, anchor communal meals often eaten by hand from a shared dish, where hospitality is a point of honor.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from South Africa
Chakalaka & PapA punchy curried vegetable-and-bean relish beside smooth white maize porridge, braai-day essentials.
Bunny ChowA hollowed half-loaf of bread filled with fiery Durban curry, the ultimate hand-held street meal.
BobotieCurried spiced mince baked under a golden savory custard, sweet with dried fruit and fragrant with bay, South Africa’s national comfort.
Browse all South Africa recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Oven, Whisk.
Storing it: Keep chilled and covered, and enjoy within 2 to 3 days.
Make it a South Africa meal
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Rooibos Iced TeaDrink
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Cuisine
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Frequently asked questions
What is Malva Pudding?
A sticky apricot-jam sponge drenched in hot cream sauce, South Africa's best-known baked pudding.
Where does Malva Pudding come from?
Malva Pudding is a South African dish from Western Cape, South Africa.
Can Malva Pudding be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Malva Pudding recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Malva Pudding safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Malva Pudding take to make?
About 55 minutes total (15 minutes prep, 40 minutes cooking), serving 8.
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