Cape Brandy Pudding | Bibbysktichen recipes | Baked desserts (2024)

FAQs

What is the national dessert of South Africa? ›

Brandy works wonderfully well and we've added more punch by infusing it with fantastically festive flavourings.

To flame, warm 3-4 tbsp brandy in a small pan, pour it over the pudding and set light to it.

Malva pudding is Cape Town's favourite dessert. It's the perfect sweet follow-up to a great braai or potjiekos, and feels terrifically celebratory even just as a simple Tuesday treat. It's also a great way to celebrate a public holiday in South Africa!

"This is more delicious than the sum of its parts! It's a real traditional oldie.

A silver sixpence was placed into the pudding mix and every member of the household gave the mix a stir. Whoever found the sixpence in their own piece of the pudding on Christmas Day would see it as a sign that they would enjoy wealth and good luck in the year to come.

The pudding is very dark, almost black in appearance due to the dark sugars and black treacle in most recipes, and its long cooking time. The mixture can be moistened with the juice of citrus fruits, brandy and other alcohol (some recipes call for dark beers such as mild, stout or porter).

Christmas cake is a rich fruit cake. Christmas pudding isnt. It's a steamed pudding with vaguely similar ingredients (dried fruit, ale etc) cooked with flour, sugar, eggs.

The flaming brandy is said to represent the passion of Christ. Christmas puddings were traditionally boiled in a “pudding cloth”, although today are usually steamed in a bowl. Presented on the table with a sprig of holly, they are then doused in brandy and set alight.

While I use three different types of alcohol (brandy, Cointreau and marsala), the alcohol is cooked out of the puddings and is safe for children.

What can I use instead of brandy in a Christmas pudding? ›

You can use any other high alcohol liquor that you have to hand for flaming the pudding (though not a fortified wine, such as port) and cognac/brandy and whisky are often traditional choices. Port could be used for soaking the fruits for the pudding but make sure it is a sweet variety of port.

If you or someone in your family is a vegetarian and doesn't want to eat suet, look for a recipe that uses butter or margarine instead, such as this recipe for individual Christmas puddings.

Christmas pudding is traditionally soaked with alcohol, preferably brandy, for flavour maturation. However, many people prefer rum and whisky spirit with high alcohol content.

Turn out the steamed pudding onto a serving plate with a good-sized rim around the edge to catch any spirit. The important thing is to get the spirit really hot. Pour 2-3 tablespoons of brandy, rum or whisky into a long-handled metal ladle and heat it over a gas flame until hot.

No discussion of South African desserts would be complete without Malva Pudding! This moist and spongy baked pudding always includes apricot jam and is usually served warm with a cold custard sauce. This homey, morish dessert is a beloved comfort food for many South Africans.

Bobotie is a South African dish that has Cape Malay origins. It consists of spiced minced meat baked with an egg-based topping. Of the many dishes common to South Africa, bobotie is perhaps closest to being the national dish, because it is not commonly found in any other country.

A Gatsby is a South African submarine sandwich consisting of a bread roll filled with chips (French fries) and a choice of fillings and sauces. It originated in Cape Town and is popular throughout the Western Cape province. The sandwich is typically large and shared by several people.

The Wayfarers, a sort of Guiding for native African girls began in 1926 after a visit to the colony by Olave Baden-Powell. In 1935 there were some 600 Wayfarers and 300 Sunbeams, the African equivalent of Brownies in Guiding.