Most African countries have sweets. However, desserts eaten at the end of a meal come from the colonial experience. And yet there are genuine South African desserts. DW has tested three of the most well-known.
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00:00South African cultural groups may not all enjoy the same cuisine, but dessert, that's
00:06one thing everyone can agree on.
00:13Before we explore three of South Africa's most popular desserts, let's look briefly
00:17at the concept of dessert in Africa.
00:20Is dessert on the continent really a thing?
00:24For most of Africa, if one's not talking about explicitly colonial desserts, there's lots
00:31of sweet stuff and enjoying of sweet stuff, but not necessarily in that way that it's
00:36like a formal meal and it's the full stop at the end of the culinary sentence.
00:40So if you look at traditional Zulu food, for instance, there's a lot of chewing of imfe,
00:47which is the stem of sweet sorghum, but it's not a pudding in that way.
00:52So I think especially in Southern Africa, desserts are probably coming more than anything
00:59out of the colonial experience, but an enjoyment of sweet things is absolutely present, you
01:08know, since time immemorial in Southern Africa.
01:13Let's begin our exploration of South Africa's iconic desserts, starting with number three,
01:18the Milk Tart or Malk Tart in Afrikaans.
01:21This beloved South African milk pudding dessert has a Cape Dutch influence and with the addition
01:26of the cinnamon, a uniquely Cape Malay influence as well.
01:32Perfect Milk Tart means thin, crisp base, lots of butter in the base to make it nice
01:38and crispy, and then the most luxurious milky custardy filling that you can imagine.
01:45And then a very light sprinkling of sifted cinnamon across the top.
01:51We've got two egg yolks, caster sugar, and cake flour.
01:58There are custard tarts all over the world, you know, China, Portugal, etc.
02:03But a Milk Tart and a Milk Tart's ratio of milk to eggs is completely different from
02:08what you find anywhere else.
02:13And then what we're going to do is we're going to go back into the pan.
02:17There's many different custard tarts in different cultures, but the Milk Tart belongs to us.
02:24Very different.
02:25The uniqueness with the cinnamon across the top, the lightness of the filling.
02:31To me, it's the best of the custard desserts.
02:37Number two, another dessert with Cape Dutch influence, the Malva Pudding.
02:42This spongy pudding is made with apricot jam and a generous amount of creamy sauce poured
02:47over it.
02:48Served warm, and usually with custard, it's a popular winter dessert craving.
02:56So what makes Malva Pudding Malva Pudding is the apricot jam that we use and the browning
03:02that is caused by the reaction of the bicarbonates of soda and the acidity from vinegar added
03:07at the end.
03:09Foreigners come to South Africa and think Malva Pudding is amazing because they don't
03:12know it.
03:13That was invented in South Africa.
03:16That raising agent that is acid and bicarb, that's a thing that Fortrek has invented.
03:24That's not a way that Europeans create raising.
03:30So how we're going to serve it today is with some gels that we've made.
03:34This one right here is an apricot gel.
03:37It just adds some more of the apricot flavor into our dessert.
03:43Over here we have a calamansi gel.
03:45A calamansi is in between a lemon and an orange.
03:49It's quite tart.
03:51Over here we have some citrus-infused pears.
03:55Lastly, if we're talking iconic South African desserts, we must mention the peppermint crisp
04:03tart.
04:05This layered treat originally featured the peppermint crisp chocolate bar, which was
04:09invented in South Africa in the 1960s and only later acquired by Nestle.
04:15Now there are many kinds of peppermint chocolates on the market to use in this delicious dessert.
04:22The reason I love this tart is because it's so easy to make.
04:25It's just four ingredients that you can get the perfect tart and the perfect dessert for
04:29any family occasion.
04:30So there are only four ingredients in this tart that make three different layers.
04:35The first layer is a coconut biscuit layer, and then the second one is a cream and caramel
04:40layer, and then topped off with our peppermint crisp chocolate.
04:50Once all the layers are assembled, you're going to put this in the fridge for eight
04:53hours to overnight, but I've already got one ready to enjoy.
04:58Even with their various influences, each dessert reflects a part of South Africa's diverse
05:03heritage.
05:04Even speaking of local heritage, 2023 saw the introduction of the Harvesting Heritage
05:10Pastry Challenge.
05:11The competition saw a new generation of South African pastry chefs who were required to
05:16include one indigenous ingredient in their creations.
05:20With a host of traditional South African fruits, nuts, fermented goodies, and more being infused
05:26into a modern afternoon tea menu, could this mark the start of these uniquely ancestral
05:31ingredients being celebrated more widely?
05:34The future of food culture in South Africa looks exciting, and perhaps in the next 10
05:40years, dessert after dinner may look rather different.