Eating malva pudding for the first time feels like meeting a soul mate, its swirl of butter and sugar instantly familiar to the deep heart’s core, its softness, somehow simultaneously fluffy and dense, thrilling and intimate. With each bite of the cream-soaked cake, there’s a sense of wonder: I already know you so well, have we met before?
And maybe you have — lucky you! In which case, each reunion must be pure joy. Or maybe malva pudding reminds you of the tacky chew of sticky toffee pudding or the milky sponge of tres leches. But why spend time trying to track down connections when those minutes are better spent getting this easy, fast dessert into the oven and eating it warm from the pan.
Malva pudding originated in South Africa and is beloved there and throughout its diaspora, but its creation remains a mystery. The lack of concrete facts about its history seems less important than the dessert’s strong foundation: tender cake seasoned with apricot jam and drenched in buttery sweetened cream. Those fundamentals remain intact as cooks around the world make and remake it. The chef Eric Adjepong initially tasted malva pudding at Madiba in Harlem, during its incarnation as a South African restaurant, and it instantly became his favorite dessert of all time. “It just blew my mind,” he said. “It is divine.”
He composed a version for his restaurant, Elmina in Washington, D.C., and for his new cookbook, “Ghana to the World: Recipes and Stories That Look Forward While Honoring the Past,” written with Korsha Wilson, who contributes to The New York Times. Even as Mr. Adjepong has gained national recognition through his appearances on “Top Chef” and his hosting of Food Network shows, he continues to perfect recipes in the kitchen.
Mr. Adjepong is a savory chef, but he enjoys creating sweets, particularly because he started cooking by baking cakes in his family home. After trying Madiba’s malva pudding, he ordered it any time he saw it on menus, whether at restaurants in New York City or patisseries in Ghana while visiting extended family. He also researched and studied other recipes before approaching his version with “a savory mind-set” and highlighting his favorite parts of the classic.
“I love the density, the complexity, the chew, the sort of crème anglaise that goes along with it,” he said. “It’s so good, with the perfect amount of sweetness.”
To achieve his desired texture, he baked the simple cake longer than most other versions. The milky batter, leavened with eggs, baking powder and a combination of baking soda and vinegar to activate it, is thoroughly beaten with an electric mixer to maximize its lightness. Overbaking the lean blend — it has only a tablespoon of butter — allows the browned cake to soak up more of the warm cream that’s poured on top after a short rest and yields a caky pudding that’s fluffier and denser than most.
One hallmark of malva pudding is a dollop of apricot jam used to sweeten the batter. At his restaurant, Mr. Adjepong bolsters the fruit’s tang by pickling dehydrated apricots in a spiced vinegar and serving those alongside the pudding-cake and some vanilla gelato. Recently, two South African women dining at Elmina told Mr. Adjepong how much they loved his malva pudding.
Hearing that approval from diners who know this dessert so intimately? “That’s a big sigh of relief there.”
