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Milk tart and a cup of Rooibos tea
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Milk Tart

Traditional South African custard-like tart with cinnamon
Prep Time45 minutes
Cook Time20 minutes
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: South African
Keyword: Cake batter milk tart crust, Melktert, Milk Tart, Milk tart made with condensed milk
Servings: 3 tarts
Author: Melby

Ingredients

Crust

  • 1,5 cup cake flour
  • ½ cup butter, softened
  • ¼ cup sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 15 ml baking powder
  • 125 ml milk
  • 1 ml salt

Filling

  • 1 tin sweetened condensed milk (425g)
  • 3 tins water (use the condensed milk tin to measure the water)
  • 1 ml salt
  • 3 eggs, separated
  • 3½ T cake flour
  • 3½ T corn flour
  • 2 T butter
  • 10 ml vanilla essence
  • ground cinnamon

Instructions

Crust

  • Cream the butter, sugar and egg together until pale and fluffy.
  • Sift the dry ingredients and mix into the butter mixture.
  • Dilute with the milk until it is easy to spread.
  • Spread into three 22 cm greased pie dishes with the back of a spoon.

Filling

  • Preheat the oven to 180°C.
  • In a large pot, dilute the condensed milk with the water and make sure all the condensed milk has been dissolved.
  • Heat the mixture until it steams, stirring continuously. Don't let a come to the boil.
  • Mix the dry ingredients with a little cold milk or water to form a paste. Mix until there are no lumps.
  • Once the milk mixture is steaming, remove from the heat and temper the flour mixture by adding a ladle or two of the hot milk mixture to the paste and mix.
  • Now add the flour and milk mixture into the hot milk and stir well.
  • Return to medium heat and stir continuously until the mixture thickens.
  • Stir in the egg yolks and remove from the heat.
  • Add the butter and vanilla essence to the thickened milk mixture and stir - leave to cool.
  • Beat the egg whites until light and fluffy.
  • Fold the egg whites into the mixture carefully.
  • Pour the mixture into the 3 unbaked pie crusts and bake for 15 to 20 minutes until the filling is set.
  • Remove from the oven and sprinkle lightly with ground cinnamon. Serve hot or cold.

Notes

  • This recipe makes 3 large tarts. If you want to use smaller pie dishes or aluminium foil pie dishes, use 4 rather than 3.
  • The mixture is very much like a sweet soufflé and puffs up in the oven. Once out of the oven it will settle down and then the cinnamon can be sprinkled on top.
  • Most people seem to prefer warm milk tart. This milk tart can definitely be served warm, but it is delicious straight out of the fridge too.