We need no excuse to dig into a traditional, creamy (and yummy) milk tart. Luckily for us, it’s National Milk Tart Day on 27 February. Get your fix with these scrumptious spins on the lip-smacking local dessert. 

Lemon milk tart meringue pie with lemon curd drizzle  

Serves 8 // Prep time 30 minutes + refrigeration 

Ingredients  

For the biscuit base 

300 g lemon-flavoured Tennis biscuits
150 g butter, melted 

For the milk tart filling 

375g tin condensed milk
700g full cream milk
2 tsp vanilla essence
2 eggs, separated
70g cornflour
70 ml water
Pinch of salt 

To serve 

125 ml store-bought lemon curd
Store-bought meringue kisses 

Method 

For the biscuit base 

1. Break biscuits into a food processor and blend to fine crumbs. Mix in the butter until well combined.
2. Press biscuit base into a 24 cm springform cake tin and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

For the milk tart filling 

1. Place the condensed milk, milk and vanilla essence into a medium-sized pot. Bring to a boil while whisking constantly.
2. Remove from the heat and let cool for two minutes.
3. In a small mixing bowl, mix together the cornflour, water, egg yolks and salt until smooth. 
4. Gradually add the cornflour mixture to the warm condensed milk mixture while whisking constantly. 
5. Return the pot to low heat and whisk until the mixture has thickened.
6. Remove from heat and allow to cool for 10 minutes.
7. Meanwhile, beat the egg whites with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form. 
8. Gently fold egg whites into the hot custard. Pour the filling over the chilled biscuit base. Allow to cool completely before refrigerating for at least 2 hours. 

To serve  

1. Remove the milk tart from the cake tin. Spread lemon curd and decorate with meringue kisses. 

Pro tip: If your filling looks a little lumpy, pass it through a sieve before folding in the egg whites. 

Recipes & styling: Marizka du Toit
Photography: Jurie Senekal 

 

Milk tart trifle 

Serves 4 

 

Ingredients 

1½ tbsp flour
1 tbsp cornflour
2 eggs, separated
2½ cups milk
½ cup caster sugar
1 tbsp butter
1 cinnamon stick, plus extra to garnish
¼ tsp salt
¼ cup sugar
3 cardamom pods, roasted and split
1½ cups fruit-cake mix
1 sponge cake, sliced
Ground cinnamon, to garnish 

Method  

1. Whisk the flour, cornflour and egg yolks together in a large bowl.
2. Place the milk, caster sugar, butter, cinnamon stick and salt in a pot over medium heat and bring to the boil.
3. Remove the cinnamon stick and pour into the flour-egg-yolk mixture, whisking continuously. Return to the pot and cook over medium heat, whisking until it thickens.
4. Transfer the resulting custard to a clean bowl, lay cling film directly on to the surface of the custard and cool.
5. Place sugar and one cup of water in a small pot over medium heat. Once the sugar has dissolved, continue to simmer until it is a glossy syrup. Add the cardamom pods and fruit-cake mix and simmer for 5 minutes. Strain, reserving both the syrup and the fruit. Remove the cardamom pods.
6. Dip each slice of sponge cake into the syrup, then arrange a single layer in a large glass dish.
7. Top with a few spoons of fruit, then pour over a thick layer of the custard. Repeat until all the cake and fruit has been used. End with a layer of custard.
8. Dust with cinnamon and garnish with a cinnamon stick. Leave to stand for 30 minutes before serving

  

Two-tone chai milk tart 

Serves 6 

 

Ingredients 

200 g Romany Creams, crushed
⅓ cup melted butter
1 L milk
4 chai tea bags
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
3 tbsp cornflour
3 tbsp flour, sifted
3 tbsp cocoa, sifted  

Method  

1. In a bowl, combine the crushed biscuits and melted butter. Then press into a 22 cm, loose-bottomed pastry tin. Place in the fridge to set.
2. Pour the milk and chai into a saucepan and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat.
3. Whisk together the eggs, sugar, cornflour and flour. Temper the egg mixture with the hot milk and then return everything to the heat.
4. Bring to a boil and cook for 10 minutes, until thickened.
5. Once thickened, pour half the mixture into a large bowl and mix in the cocoa.
6. Carefully fill half the biscuit shell with chocolate mixture, and the other half with the rest of the mixture.
7. Cool completely and then set in the fridge before serving.

  

Milk tart Swiss roll 

Serves 6 

 

Ingredients 

For the sponge 

4 large eggs
100 g caster sugar
90 g self-raising flour
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract
100 g caster sugar (mixed with 2 tsp ground cinnamon) 

For the filling 

560 ml milk
1 cinnamon stick
1 large egg
125 ml white sugar
2 tbsp cake flour
2 tbsp cornflour
1 tsp vanilla paste
1 tsp ground cinnamon 

Method 

For the sponge 

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C and line a 23 × 33 cm Swiss-roll tin with baking paper.
2. To make the sponge, beat the eggs and caster sugar together until pale.
3. Sift the flour and cinnamon into the bowl, add vanilla extract and fold into the egg mixture.
4. Pour into the lined tin and spread out evenly.
5. Bake for 10–12 minutes, until well risen and firm to the touch and the sides are shrinking away from the edges of the tin.
6. Place a piece of baking paper bigger than the baking tin on a work surface and dust with the cinnamon sugar. Invert the cake on to the dusted paper and peel off the original sheet of paper from the base.
7. Using the back of a knife, score the sponge down one of the shorter sides, 2½ cm from the edge. Starting with this side, tightly roll up the sponge with the paper. Rest the sponge roll on its seam to prevent it from unravelling while it cools.

For the filling 

1. Bring the milk and cinnamon stick to the boil in a pot. In a bowl, whisk egg, sugar, flour, cornflour, vanilla and ground cinnamon. Pour the boiling milk into egg mixture, whisking continuously. Discard cinnamon stick, return custard to the pot and cook over medium heat until thickened. Pour it into a bowl, cover with cling film (making sure that it touches the custard to prevent a skin forming) and leave to cool completely.
2. Unroll the cooled sponge, discard the baking paper and spread the cooled milk-tart filling over the sponge.
3. Roll up again and cut off the ends to neaten it up.

Photography: © Penguin Random House South Africa (Pty) Ltd / Dawie Verwey; text: Extracted from Simply Delicious by Zola Nene (Struik Lifestyle). 

 

Also read: Local is lekker! These yummy South African desserts