Day 161: South Africa and Melktert

Good evening, Raffies!

Apparently I managed to write down the wrong number of days somewhere along the road..which brings me back to day 161 today of 197 in total..seems like counting to 100 is not that simple after all..I am very sorry XD

Anyways, we are now in South Africa and we are going to enjoy a typical South African dessert: Melktart. It resembles a cheesecake, but instead of using cream cheese, the main ingredient is milk.
Now I might have mentioned before that I do not digest milk that well, not that I have a lactose intolerance, but I can't drink milk on its own. So for today's dish, I only enjoyed a small slice. It was really creamy and soothing.

South African cuisine has a very strong Dutch influence and this recipe is not exception to it.

The recipe is really simple:

4 c milk
3 egg yolks
3 egg whites
3 tbsp melted butter
1 c sugar
1 c flour
1 tsp baking powder
a pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla sugar
cinnamon for sprinkling

In a bowl, mix the butter and the sugar until smooth. Add the egg yolks and mix until creamy. Add the flour, baking powder and salt and mix well. Pour in the milk and the vanilla sugar.
In another bowl, whip the egg whites until stiff. Add to the mixture. Pour the mixture into a buttered pie form and bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes at 190° C. Now reduce the heat to 160° C and bake for another 25 minutes. The centre of the cake should be slightly jiggling. Sprinkle with cinnamon and serve either hot or cold.

For my version, I did not use a pastry crust, but you will find it in a lot of versions. You can even infuse the cinnamon in the milk before cooking, to give it a stronger cinnamon flavour.

Love,

Raffi