Milk Tart

Name: Milk Tart
Ingredients: pastry; 125 g butter, softened; 1 extra large egg; 500 ml (2 cups) cake flour; 125 ml (1/2 cup) sugar; pinch of salt; filling; 1 litre (4 cups) milk; 250 ml (1 cup) sugar, or less to taste; 45 ml (3 tablespoons) corn flour; 45 ml (3 tablespoons) cake flour; pinch of salt; 3 extra large eggs; 2,5 ml (1 teaspoon) vanilla essence; ground cinnamon

Milk tart, sprinkled with cinnamon, is another traditional South African specialty that graces every bazaar cake table and sells in every home industry. In this recipe the filling is cooked on the oven top and can be served as soon as the milk tart has cooled to room temperature. A crumb crust can be used instead of the pastry crust described below.

Published 3 July 2025

Method

Preheat oven to 180 º (375 ºF). Grease a 20 cm pie dish.
Make the crust. Cream the butter and sugar. Add the eggs and beat well. Add flour and salt and mix to a dough. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Roll the dough on a floured surface to 10 mm thickness. Line the pie dish with the dough, trim the edges and prick the base all over with a fork.
Line the pie dish with wax paper and fill with dried beans or rice. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven, lift the wax paper and beans or rice out and return to the oven for 5 to 6 minutes until the pastry is golden brown. Reserve the beans or rice for further use.
Make the filling. Mix sugar, corn flour, cake flour, pinch of salt and ¾ cup of milk in a mixing bowl until smooth. Add eggs and vanilla essence and mix very well.
Bring the rest of the milk to the boil and add to the flour mixture. Beat very well. Return the filling to the saucepan and cook over medium heat, while stirring continuously, until the filling thickens. Pour the filling into the baked pastry shell, sprinkle with cinnamon and wait patiently to serve the milk tart at room temperature.