Sweet South African Classics: Malva Pudding with Custard & Perfect Meringue Cookies

Making Malva Pudding is my ultimate go-to when I am planning a cozy dinner or a colder month gathering. Living in Canada it brings me so much joy to make this dish from my childhood and share it with guests who may, or may not, be familiar with it. Our South African friends love the taste of home, and our Canadian friends love the taste of something new and delicious.

We recently added a Christmas lunch where we were tasked with bringing the vegetable side dish and pudding. Of course, I made my go to roast vegetable dish as the veg. And then of course (again) I made my go to Malva Pudding that I have been making from the day I moved out of my parents' house.

Jump to Making the Malva Pudding

Jump to Making the Custard

Jump to Making the Meringue Cookies

Where I first discovered the recipe will surprise you (and I think it is quite cute).

Malva pudding with custard & Meringue Cookies

Don't worry I will share why I randomly included Meringue cookies in this post - but if you are familiar with the typical ingredients for Malva pudding & custard - you might know already.

You do not need to be skilled in the kitchen to make this Malva Pudding

My current cooking skill is average at best, but university Carmen's cooking skill was close to zero! And university Carmen - over 10 years ago! - made this exact Malva Pudding recipe. I have continued to make it over the years, because it is easy to make and tastes great. Admittedly University Carmen did buy custard and did not make it, but living in Canada Carmen couldn't find a decent one and thus learnt how to make custard from scratch.

Making the Malva Pudding

In 2011 I bought some Huletts sugar. Everyone in South Africa knows Huletts Sugar. While waiting for the kettle to boil, something on the Huletts sugar packaging caught my eye - a recipe. Low and behold, it was a Malva Pudding recipe! And that is how this malva pudding dish came to be.

No jokes - I make the Malva Pudding recipe that was (or maybe still is) printed on the Huletts sugar pack. After moving to Canada, it did take some googling to find it, but I found it.

Here is the Huletts Malva Pudding Recipe Link

I give the recipe for the pudding and the syrup that is poured over the pudding, as well as a brandy cream. I've never made the brandy cream, but I use the pudding and syrup recipe.

One annoying thing about this recipe is that it is in ML instead of cups. I highly recommend writing out the recipe and then converting it to cups instead of ml - unless of course you are very knowledge with baking and know the ml to cup/spoon ratio off the top of your head (I do not).

The only variation I make to this recipe is that I use organic and free-range ingredients, and I do not cover the pudding in foil (because I don't like using foil for food). An important part to remember: SPRINKLE the bicarb - do not dump it. That one time we had bicarb tasting malva pudding. It wasn't great.

Pouring the syrup over the Malva Pudding

Malva pudding can be served on its own or with the Brandy Cream as suggested by Huletts, or ice cream or my favourite - Custard.

Making easy homemade custard

For many years I avoided making custard on the assumption that it is difficult to make. Thankfully not finding one we like in Canada pushed us to try make it and it turns out it is not difficult, and really delicious.

The recipe we use for homemade custard without Malva pudding is from Spend it with Pennies.

It is easy and uses simple ingredients you probably already have. Because we like custard - we usually double this batch to have extra. We make no variations to this recipe, except that we don't cover it in plastic (because I don't like heated plastic near my food), but rather we cover it with a plate.

Malva Pudding & Custard

We like to have the Malva Pudding with warm custard. But you could also heat up the Malva Pudding and have cold custard. Or heat up both - whichever you prefer.

And that is my ultimate go-to dessert. BUT the custard leaves me with 8 egg whites, and I do not like to waste. So, every time I make custard, I also do something with the egg whites and my favourite thing to make is Meringue Cookies.

Making Meringue Cookies

While making the Malva Pudding and Custard is easy, I did need to try out a few different Meringue recipes to find the one that works. And I did find one that works!

Meringue cookies remind me of my childhood. There is a lady, Tannie Rina, who lives in the tiny town (more like a village) I'm from and she always used to have little meringues at her house and send us home with a packet of them (usually they were blue and pink). I think fondly of my visits to her house and those little meringues. Since I found them daunting to make, I avoided trying to make them for many years - that is until I had many egg whites I wanted to use up (and making nougat is very sticky).

One thing I definitely recommend when making meringues is a stand mixer. I've made meringues without one and it was not as fun or simple as using a stand mixer. But if you don't have a stand mixer then at least you know it is do-able without one. It just takes more effort and longer.

The stand mixer I have if the Kitchen Aid Artisan one. It is a pricey item, but in my case, it has 100% been worth the investment. I make so many more recipes because I have it.

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Meringues in our convection toaster oven

Another item I wondered about when making meringues is our oven. Our oven is kind of old. I wondered if my previous attempt failed because our oven is not great. For this attempt I had 8 egg whites to work with, which meant I had a lot of meringue to bake. I used our Ninja convection toaster oven and our normal oven, and I am happy to report that this recipe worked with both of these.

I used 4 normal size oven trays and both toaster oven trays making these

I made no changes to the recipe other than doubling it because I had 8 egg whites to work with.

The recipe I used is Meringue cookies by Sam Merritt.

These meringues turned out great (from someone who has tried other recipes and found that those did not turn out well - usually the problem was they were still sticky, or they became toasted).

And there you have it—a duo of delightful desserts that are sure to leave a lasting impression. Whether it’s the warm, caramel-like richness of Malva Pudding with creamy custard or the light, airy sweetness of Meringue Cookies, these treats bring joy to every bite.

These desserts bring joy to me as South African living in Canada. Malva pudding tastes like home, and I love sharing it with friends here. Meringues are technically not South African, but they remind me of the little town in the Eastern Cape where I am from.

I hope you enjoy these recipes and that they work as well for you as they have for me,

Carmen