🍰 DESSERT
Chikenduza (Candy Cakes)
Soft, yeasted sweet cakes baked tall and finished with a bright pink glaze, a Zimbabwean bakery treat.
Zimbabwean · medium · serves 6
prep 30 min · cook 25 min · plus 1 h hands-off time
~528 cal · 8g protein · 101g carbs · 10g fat · 2g fiber · 53g sugars · 6g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Chikenduza, better known in English as candy cakes, are the pink-topped sweet buns of Zimbabwe's city bakeries, and a wave of homesick Zimbabweans abroad have kept their memory alive online. A rich, lightly sweet yeasted dough is baked tall in big muffin moulds until domed and golden, then crowned with a thick glaze tinted a cheerful pink.
The old way leans on yeast rather than baking powder for a soft, faintly bread-like crumb, closer to a sweet enriched bun than a Western cupcake. The pink icing on top is what earns them the candy-cake name, and children reach for the most brightly topped one first.
They are a bakery and teatime treat rather than a home-oven everyday, sold from counters in Harare and beyond, and best eaten fresh while the crumb is still pillowy. A cup of tea is the only accompaniment they ask for.
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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 6
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp active dry yeast
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup warm milk
- 1 egg
- 4 tbsp softened butter
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup icing sugar, for the glaze
- 1 a drop of pink food colouring
Instructions
- 1Warm the milk, stir in the yeast and a spoonful of the sugar, and leave it 10 minutes until frothy.
- 2Mix the flour, remaining sugar and salt, then work in the yeast mixture, egg, softened butter and vanilla to a soft, slightly sticky dough. Knead until smooth.✎ Chef’s noteKeep the dough on the wet side. Candy cakes should be tender and moist, not dry, so err towards a softer dough than a bread.
- 3Cover and leave to rise for about 1 hour until doubled, then knock back and divide between greased large muffin moulds, filling each a little over halfway.
- 4Prove for another 30 to 40 minutes until puffed above the rims, then bake at 350F (175C) for 20 to 25 minutes until golden and springy.
- 5Cool completely. Whisk the icing sugar with a little water and the pink colouring into a thick glaze, then spoon it over the tops and let it set before serving.
Harare bakery tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Harare. Sadza is cooked in two stages: a thin porridge first, then more meal beaten in against the side of the pot until a spoon will stand upright in it. At the table a piece is torn off, rolled in the right hand and dented with the thumb to carry the relish, whether that is beef stew, greens in peanut butter or dried fish.
🗺️
Zimbabwe. Peanut butter is used as a cooking fat and a thickener rather than a spread, stirred into greens, pumpkin leaves and porridge, and it is the base of dovi, the peanut stew. Madora, the mopane worm, is dried and rehydrated or fried and eaten as a protein-dense snack, and it is farmed and traded seriously rather than as a curiosity.
🌍
Africa. Much of what reads as timeless African cooking is younger than the Atlantic crossings. Maize, cassava, groundnut, chilli and tomato all arrived from the Americas after 1500 and pushed older crops aside; millet, sorghum, teff, yam and fonio are the ones that were already here, and the map still shows the join.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Zimbabwe
BotaA soft, thin maize-meal breakfast porridge enriched with peanut butter and a little sugar.
Nyama ne SadzaBeef stewed with tomato and onion served with stiff maize sadza, the everyday heart of the Zimbabwean table.
Dovi (Chicken Peanut Stew)Chicken simmered in a velvety peanut butter and tomato sauce with greens, Zimbabwe's gentle, comforting Sunday stew.
Browse all Zimbabwe 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 Zimbabwe meal
Dovi (Chicken Peanut Stew)Dinner
MaheuDrink
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Frequently asked questions
What is Chikenduza (Candy Cakes)?
Soft, yeasted sweet cakes baked tall and finished with a bright pink glaze, a Zimbabwean bakery treat.
Where does Chikenduza (Candy Cakes) come from?
Chikenduza (Candy Cakes) is a Zimbabwean dish from Harare, Zimbabwe.
Can Chikenduza (Candy Cakes) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Chikenduza (Candy Cakes) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions. Treat the substitutions as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Chikenduza (Candy Cakes) 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 still count coconut as a tree nut to be cautious, although the FDA stopped listing it as one in 2025), 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 Chikenduza (Candy Cakes) take to make?
About 1 h 55 min in all: 30 minutes prep and 25 minutes cooking, plus 1 h of hands-off waiting the method needs, serving 6.
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