Sharing this South African Milk Tart Recipe
I don’t usually share many recipes from my home country on this blog, but today that changes! I am sharing a family favourite today, the best milk tart recipe I know. This dessert is so light and can be compared to a crème pâtissière. This custard based dessert is a gorgeous recipe for Summer. The base of the tart is a short crust pastry that is so crumbly and light that it will make you use it for many more recipes.
The best thing about this recipe is that it isn’t very heavy, so I find myself indulging in a few slices at a time. I hope you love this recipe as much as I do. If you have never made it, trust me, it is worth it. And it comes with very little fuss as well. Please leave me a comment if you try this recipe or if you have any questions.
Bon Appetit,
Zorah
A few tips to achieve this dessert
- Always make sure your ingredients are room temperature. This goes for most recipes, but here it is very important. when ingredients are room temperature it helps them to combine with each other well.
- You will find that the sweet pastry is very crumbly. I would suggest letting in chill in the fridge for about an hour before rolling. If you find that it is breaking while you roll it out, you can let it chill for longer. The edges may crack but that won’t really bother you as those pieces will be cut off before baking.
- Make sure the pastry is cooled before adding in the custard. You don’t want the custard to continue cooking in the tart shell before refrigerating.
- Make sure you roll out the dough evenly and not thicker that 0.5cm, if it is too thick it will make the dessert taste very dough like.
Some trouble shooting tips
Why is my custard lumpy?
- You can pass the custard through a sieve if you want to. This will remove any lumps. However, I find that whenever the cooling process is done and I slice into the tart, there are no bumps in the actual dessert. So this is purely an aesthetic thing if it bothers you.
My pastry is breaking while rolling:
- There is a lot of butter in this pastry recipe so this is very likely to happen. I would suggest making sure the dough is chilled before rolling and that you are in a cool spot while doing so.
The Best Milk Tart Recipe
Course: DessertCuisine: south africanDifficulty: Easy8-10
servings15
minutes10
minutes3-5
hoursThis milk tart is a favourite in South Africa and is perfect for Summer. It’s creamy and has a light, pastry base.
Ingredients
- Shortcrust Pastry Ingredients
130g softened butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 cups cake four
1 egg
2 tsp. baking powder
- Filling Ingredients**
500ml full cream milk
6 tbsp. granulated sugar
70g cornstarch
2 eggs, room temperature and separated
30g softened butter
1 tbsp. vanilla essence
1/2 tsp. cardamom powder
1/2 tsp. cinnamon powder
1-2 tbsp cinnamon for garnish.
Directions
- Pastry Method
- Spray a round, fluted tart tin (18-20cm) with a non-stick spray and set aside for now.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, with a paddle attachment, add in the butter and sugar and mix until everything in combined well.
- Then add in the egg and mix again. Make sure to scrape down the base of the bowl.
- Lastly, add in the flour and baking powder and mix until combined.
- Preheat the oven to 175C.
- Wrap the dough in cling film and allow it to chill for at least one hour.
- When the dough is ready, roll it out out to 0.5cm and place it inside the tart tin.
- Add baking beans to the tart tin to make sure the centre does not inflate during baking.
- Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes, until the edges turn golden brown.
- Remove the baking beans, and place the tart back in the oven for 5 minutes so the centre can bake through.
- Filling Method
- Heat the milk and sugar on a medium heat in a medium size pot.
- Once the milk is steaming, pour some of the milk into the cornflour, about 1/4 of a cup.
- Whisk until smooth.
- Then add in the eggs to the cornflour mixture and whisk.
- Pour everything back into the milk mixture and whisk continuously on a low heat.
- Once the custard begins to thicken allow some bubbles to form and that’s when you know it is ready to be taken off from the heat.
- Then add in the butter and whisk, add in the vanilla essence, cinnamon and cardamom and whisk again.
- Pour the custard into the cooled tart tin, smooth it out and refrigerate for 3 hours to overnight.
- Before servings top with cinnamon using a sieve and enjoy.
