Do you love the Made In SA section in our magazine (which you can get here)? Then you’re going to love this malva cake spiked with Amarula! It tastes just like home.

SERVES 8–10 // COOKING TIME 1 hour 45 min

INGREDIENTS
For the cake
3 eggs
1½ cups sugar
¼ cup vegetable oil
410 g tin pears in syrup
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp salt
For the poached pears
1 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla essence
1 cinnamon stick
6 small pears, peeled
For the sauce
410 g evaporated milk
¼ cup Amarula Cream
50 g butter
2 tsp vanilla essence
Mint, to decorate

METHOD
For the cake
1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease and line a 22 cm cake tin.
2. Whisk the eggs, sugar and oil together in a bowl. Cut the pears into bite-sized chunks. Add the pears and the syrup from the tin to the egg mixture.
3. Sieve the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt into the egg and pear mixture, and mix. Pour the batter into the cake tin and bake for 1 hour, or until a skewer comes out clean.
For the poached pears
1. Place the sugar, vanilla essence, cinnamon and 3 cups water in a pot. Bring to the boil over medium heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar.
2. Add the pears. Reduce the heat and leave to simmer for about 20–30 minutes, until the pears are tender but still firm.
3. Remove the pears and allow to cool. Cut in half and set aside.
For the sauce
1. Place all of the ingredients in a pot over medium heat and heat until the butter has just about melted.
2. Pour over the hot cake. Leave to stand for about 30 minutes to absorb.
3. Decorate the cake with mint and serve with poached pears.