South African · Boerekos · dessert

Melktert

Name: Melktert
Prep time: 52 min
Total time: 3 h 2 min
Cuisine: South African · Boerekos
Ingredients: cake flour — 180 g; butter — 100 g; white sugar — 100 g; egg — 100 g; baking powder — 5 g; regular milk — 1000 g; cinnamon — 2 g; cake flour — 60 g; cornflour — 30 g; white sugar — 150 g; eggs — 300 g; butter — 30 g; salt — 2 g; vanilla extract — 5 g; ground cinnamon — 5 g

Melktert reads sweetness 7.2, richness 6.8 and floral 3.3 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a South African · Boerekos dessert, about 3 hr 2 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.

The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10

Umami & Savory — 3.6 / 10
Sweet & Fruity — 7.4 / 10
Sour & Bright — 0.0 / 10
Bitter & Earthy — 0.5 / 10
Rich & Fat — 7.0 / 10
Aromatic & Spice — 3.5 / 10

The measured notes (of 18)

Sweetness 7.2 · Richness 6.8 · Floral 3.3 · Salinity 3.3 · Umami 2.9 · Warm Spice 2.5 · Nutty 0.8 · Fruity 0.8

What's in it (15)

cake flour — 180 g
butter — 100 g
white sugar — 100 g
egg — 100 g
baking powder — 5 g
regular milk — 1000 g
cinnamon — 2 g
cake flour — 60 g
cornflour — 30 g
white sugar — 150 g
eggs — 300 g
butter — 30 g
salt — 2 g
vanilla extract — 5 g
ground cinnamon — 5 g

Time & effort: about 3 hr 2 min (52 min active) · effort: involved

Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 341.2 kcal, 20.9 g protein, 7.5 g fat, 47.4 g carbs

Dietary: Vegetarian · Contains dairy · Contains egg — engine-derived; double-check anything allergy-critical.

How it's cooked (9 steps)

Cream the softened butter with the crust sugar for 3 minutes until pale, then beat in the crust egg.
Fold in the cake flour and baking powder to a soft dough, press it evenly into a 24 cm pie dish, and blind bake 12 minutes at 180 C / 350 F until dry and just blond.
Bring the milk to a bare simmer with the cinnamon stick and let it infuse 10 minutes off the boil, then remove the stick.
Whisk the custard flour, cornflour, custard sugar and the 3 egg yolks to a smooth paste.
Pour a ladle of hot milk into the paste, whisk, then return everything to the pot and cook 8 minutes over medium heat, whisking constantly, until it thickens to a heavy pouring custard.
Off the heat stir in the butter, salt and vanilla.
Whip the 3 egg whites to soft peaks and fold them through the warm custard in two additions - this is what gives melktert its lightness.
Pour into the baked crust and bake 25 minutes at 180 C / 350 F, until the custard is just set with a faint wobble at the centre.
Cool 2 hours to room temperature, then dust heavily with ground cinnamon before serving.

Dishes with a similar flavor shape

Cardamom Coffee Bread (Pulla) — Scandinavian
Queijadas de Sintra — Portuguese
Lefse — Scandinavian
Cuban Flan — Cuban
Pain Perdu (Lost Bread / French Toast) — Cajun/Creole

Keep reading: what sweetness, richness, floral mean in the flavor lexicon · the world's cuisines, by flavor.

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Every number above is Palate's engine-measured estimate, computed from this recipe's ingredients and techniques — not human-tasted ratings or reviews.