Chocolate Malva Pudding
Overview
Malva pudding is one of South Africa's defining desserts: a soft, spongy baked pudding drenched in a hot cream and butter sauce the moment it leaves the oven, so the sponge soaks it up rather than sitting in it. This is the chocolate version, with cocoa worked into both the sponge and the sauce. Apricot jam is the ingredient that surprises people and it is not optional. It goes into the batter rather than onto the finished pudding, and its acidity reacts with the bicarbonate of soda to give the sponge its characteristic open, slightly sticky crumb. A malva pudding made without it is a chocolate sponge, which is a different and lesser thing. The dish is generally traced to Cape Dutch cooking, and the name has been variously explained through Afrikaans and through the wine sometimes served with it, with no single account settled. What is not in doubt is its position: malva pudding appears at Sunday lunches, at restaurants across the country and at every gathering where a hot pudding is expected, served with custard, cream or ice cream while it is still warm.
AFN Heritage Note
Malva pudding belongs to the Cape Dutch baking tradition of South Africa, characterised by the inclusion of apricot jam in the batter, which reacts with bicarbonate of soda to produce its open crumb. The origin of the name is not settled in the available record.
Ingredients
Dietary tags are provided by contributors as a guide, not verified by AFN, and they depend on the products you buy. If you have a serious allergy, check every ingredient yourself. Cooking, allergies and your own judgement
Directions
- 1
Preheat the oven to 175°C and grease a baking dish.
- 2
Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, bicarbonate of soda and salt.
- 3
In a separate bowl, whisk the egg, melted butter, apricot jam and vanilla extract together.
- 4
Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix well, adding the milk gradually until you have a smooth batter.
- 5
Pour the batter into the greased dish and smooth the top.
- 6
Combine all the sauce ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat and stir continuously until the butter has melted and the sauce is smooth.
- 7
Bake the pudding for about 30 to 35 minutes, until risen and sponge-like.
- 8
Pour the hot sauce over the pudding the moment it comes out of the oven and let it soak in.
- 9
Serve warm with custard, cream or ice cream.
Africook’s Notes
Personal notes from Laila Yetunde- Pour the sauce over while the pudding is still hot from the oven. That is the entire technique, and a cooled pudding will not absorb it.
- Do not leave out the apricot jam. It reacts with the bicarbonate of soda to create the characteristic open crumb, and without it you have an ordinary chocolate sponge.
- Use a dish deep enough to hold the sauce. A shallow tin will overflow when the sauce goes on.
- Prick the pudding all over with a skewer before pouring if it looks dense, so the sauce travels through rather than pooling.
- It reheats well, covered, in a low oven, and many South Africans think it is better on the second day.
Reviews
4 reviews
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Couldnt find smooth apricot jam at my local Target in Minneapolis so I bought regular and strained the fruit chunks out before mixing it with the melted butter and vanilla. Loved the chocolate flavor with that sponge texture, really takes me back to eating malva years ago. Just needed extra time for the cream sauce to fully soak through the middle.
Had to pop down to two different supermarkets in Cardiff just to find smooth apricot jam without any fruit bits, but so glad I persevered. The way the bicarbonate of soda makes the cocoa sponge so spongy meant it soaked up every single drop of that warm milk and cream sauce. Absolutely brilliant pudding.
Made this right after our Sunday braai. Was a bit skeptical about putting cocoa in a malva but keeping that tablespoon of smooth apricot jam ensured the Clover cream sauce absorbed properly into the sponge. Proper lekker.
I was wondering how cocoa powder and apricot jam would taste together in one recipe, but e sweet o! The batter became very smooth after adding the milk bit by bit like you explained. My family cleared the dish sha.