DessertAI

Dairy-Free Malva Pudding

Name: Dairy-Free Malva Pudding
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 47 min
Total time: 62 min
Yield: 8 servings
Cuisine: Other
Ingredients: 200 g Self-raising flour; 300 g Caster sugar; 2 large Eggs; 100 g Apricot jam; 1 tbsp White wine vinegar; 1 tsp Bicarbonate of soda; 100 g Coconut oil; 250 ml Full-fat coconut milk; 2 tsp Vanilla extract

A soft, spongy South African apricot pudding, baked until deep gold and drenched the moment it leaves the oven in a hot coconut milk sauce that soaks all the way through — no butter, no cream, same sticky result.

Prep: 15 min
Cook: 47 min
Difficulty: Easy

About this dish

Malva pudding is a Cape Dutch dessert, its name likely borrowed from the soft, spongy texture of a marshmallow ('malvalekker' in Afrikaans). The classic version pours a hot butter-and-cream sauce over the baked sponge the instant it comes out, so the still-scalding cake soaks it up like a sponge cake soaks syrup. This version swaps butter and cream for coconut oil and coconut milk, which carry heat and soak in almost identically, so the drench-and-absorb moment that defines the dish survives untouched.

Vegetarian
Lactose-free
Not vegan because of Eggs
Contains gluten because of Self-raising flour

Ingredients

8servings

200gSelf-raising flour
300gCaster sugar
2largeEggs
100gApricot jam
1tbspWhite wine vinegar
1tspBicarbonate of soda
100gCoconut oil
250mlFull-fat coconut milk
2tspVanilla extract

Instructions

Beat the eggs with the sugar, apricot jam, melted coconut oil and vanilla until well combined, about 5 minutes.
5 min
Tip: Beat it properly here — this is the only mixing the batter gets, and a smooth base now means no streaks of unmixed jam later.
Stir the baking soda into the vinegar until it fizzes, then fold this and the flour into the batter.
2 min
Tip: Fold in gently right after it fizzes — that reaction is the pudding's only rise, and it starts losing power the moment it stops bubbling.
Pour into a greased baking dish and bake until deep golden brown and a skewer comes out clean, about 35 minutes.
35 min
Tip: Deep golden, not pale — an underbaked malva pudding collapses the moment the hot sauce hits it.
While it bakes, simmer the coconut milk, sugar, coconut oil and vanilla until the sugar dissolves, then pour the hot sauce evenly over the pudding the moment it comes out of the oven.
5 min
Tip: It has to be hot pudding meeting hot sauce — a cooled sponge just sits under the sauce instead of drinking it in.