Okay, so I’ve been on this huge African food kick lately, and I decided, “You know what? I’m gonna dive into African desserts.” I didn’t really know where to start, so I did what anyone would do – I hit up the internet.
First, I just browsed around to get some ideas. I saw a whole bunch of stuff, from cakes and puddings to these fried dough things. It was kinda overwhelming, honestly!
Getting My Hands Dirty
I decided to start with something that looked relatively simple – Malva Pudding. It’s a South African dessert, and it seemed like a good way to ease myself into things. I found a recipe online, and it looked pretty straightforward. Mostly pantry staples, which is always a win.
- Gathering Ingredients: I checked the recipe, made sure I had everything, and laid it all out. Flour, sugar, eggs, butter, apricot jam (that was a new one for me in a pudding!), and a few other things.
- Mixing it Up: I followed the instructions, creaming the butter and sugar, adding the eggs, and then slowly incorporating the dry ingredients. The batter was pretty thick, almost like a cake batter.
- The Apricot Jam Surprise: I mixed in the apricot jam, which gave the batter this really nice, fruity smell. I was already getting excited at this point.
- Into the Oven: I poured the batter into a greased baking dish and popped it into the oven. The recipe said to bake it for about 45 minutes, or until it was golden brown and springy.
- Making the Sauce: While the pudding was baking, I made the sauce. This was basically just butter, cream, sugar, and vanilla, all melted together. It smelled amazing – super rich and decadent.
The Moment of Truth
I pulled the pudding out of the oven, and it looked perfect – golden brown and puffed up. I poked a few holes in it and poured the hot sauce all over. The recipe said to let it soak in, so I waited (impatiently!) for a bit.
Finally, I scooped some out and took a bite. Oh. My. Goodness. It was warm, soft, and spongy, and the sauce had soaked in and made it all gooey and delicious. The apricot jam gave it this subtle sweetness and tanginess that was just perfect. It was seriously good, like, really good.
This whole experiment definitely made me want to try more African desserts. I’ve got my eye on some recipes for Koeksisters (another South African treat) and maybe some kind of spiced cake. I’m not an expert baker by any means, but this was surprisingly easy, and the result was so worth it.
Definitely will do it again, next time I will prepare more apricot jam.
