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    Home » Desserts » Vegan Malva Pudding

    Vegan Malva Pudding

    Published: Jul 1, 2020 Updated: May 9, 2022 by Alison Andrews This post may contain affiliate links

    Jump to Recipe Print Recipe
    Vegan Malva Pudding

    This vegan malva pudding is rich, sticky, caramely and saucy! It’s totally divine served warm with vegan whipped cream or ice cream.

    Slice of vegan malva pudding topped with a scoop of ice cream on a black plate.

    Malva pudding is a huge favorite in South Africa. If you go to a wedding in South Africa, the chances are good there’ll be malva pudding served.

    If you go to a dinner party the chances are good there’ll be malva. It’s served in many restaurants. So you get the idea, it’s kind of a big deal in SA culture.

    In terms of a comparison, I would say it’s pretty close to a sticky toffee pudding.

    It’s a sponge cake made with apricot jam and you poke a bunch of holes in it and pour over a creamy sauce. The sponge soaks it up and the result is a rich, moist, sticky, caramel pudding!

    Even though it is VERY saucy, as you make a big batch of sauce to pour over it, it’s usually served hot with custard, whipped cream or ice cream as well. I mean bring on the richness!

    So I wanted to make a vegan version of malva pudding, which I did, and it came out wonderfully!

    You really wouldn’t know this is a vegan malva unless someone told you. Everything about it, from taste to texture is just spot on.

    Slice of malva pudding with ice cream on a black plate.

    How To Make Vegan Malva Pudding

    You will find full instructions and measurements in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. This is a summary of the process to go along with the process photos.

    The Pudding:

    • Sift all purpose flour into a mixing bowl and add sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix together.
    Dry ingredients added to mixing bowl and mixed.
    • Add white vinegar to some soy milk and let it curdle. Then add that to the mixing bowl along with applesauce, apricot jam and coconut oil and mix into a batter. Use a hand whisk briefly to remove any large lumps. It’s okay if the apricot jam isn’t entirely mixed and has some little lumps.
    Wet ingredients added to mixing bowl and mixed into a batter.
    • Transfer the batter to a 9×9 square baking dish.
    • Bake at 350°F for 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
    Batter in a 9x9 square baking dish before and after baking.

    The Sauce:

    • When the malva is almost finished cooking, start making your sauce.
    • Add vegan butter to a saucepan and melt it.
    Butter added to saucepan and melted.
    • Add sugar and coconut cream and heat together until it reaches a simmer, stirring all the while.
    Sugar and coconut cream added to saucepan and brought to a simmer.
    • Remove from the heat and add vanilla extract.
    Vanilla extract added to saucepan and whisked in.

    Putting It Together:

    • When the malva comes out the oven, poke holes all over it with a toothpick and then pour over the sauce.
    Poking holes in cake with a toothpick and then pouring over the sauce.
    • Make sure to distribute the sauce evenly across the whole pudding. Leave it to sink in.
    Sauce slowly sinking into malva pudding.
    • When the sauce has mostly sunk into the pudding, cut it into squares.
    Malva pudding in a baking dish and then cut into squares.

    How To Serve Malva Pudding

    It’s wonderful served warm with vegan whipped cream or vegan ice cream.

    Slices of malva pudding with ice cream on black plates.

    How Long Does It Keep?

    It keeps perfectly covered in the fridge for around 5 days and can be reheated slice by slice in the microwave. Top with your vegan cream or ice cream and it’s just as good as the day it was made.

    Slice of malva pudding on a black plate with ice cream.

    More Vegan Puddings and Desserts

    1. Vegan Bread Pudding
    2. Vegan Rice Pudding
    3. Vegan Peach Cobbler
    4. Vegan Sticky Toffee Pudding
    5. Peaches and Cream Chia Pudding
    6. Vegan Apple Crisp

    Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!

    Slice of vegan malva pudding with ice cream on a black plate.

    Vegan Malva Pudding

    This vegan malva pudding is rich, sticky, caramely and saucy! It’s totally divine served warm with vegan whipped cream or ice cream.
    5 from 17 votes
    Print Pin Rate
    Course: Dessert
    Cuisine: South African
    Diet: Vegan
    Prep Time: 20 minutes
    Cook Time: 35 minutes
    Total Time: 55 minutes
    Servings: 12
    Calories: 366kcal
    Author: Alison Andrews

    Ingredients

    For the Malva Pudding:

    • 2 cups All Purpose Flour (250g)
    • 1 ½ cups White Granulated Sugar (300g)
    • 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
    • 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
    • ½ teaspoon Salt
    • 1 Tablespoon Distilled White Vinegar
    • ½ cup Soy Milk (120ml)
    • ½ cup Applesauce (140g)
    • 2 Tablespoons Smooth Apricot Jam (40g)
    • 2 Tablespoons Coconut Oil (30ml) Melted

    For the Sauce:

    • ½ cup Vegan Butter (112g)
    • ¾ cup White Granulated Sugar (150g)
    • 1 cup Canned Coconut Cream (240ml) Unsweetened
    • 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
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    Instructions

    • Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Spray a 9×9 square dish* with non-stick spray. Set aside.
    • Sift the flour into a mixing bowl and add the sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt and mix together.
    • Add the white vinegar to the soy milk and let it curdle. Then add that in along with the applesauce, apricot jam and coconut oil and mix into a batter. Use a hand whisk briefly to remove any large lumps. It’s okay if the apricot jam isn’t entirely mixed and has some little lumps.
    • Transfer the batter to your prepared baking dish.
    • Bake for 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
    • When the malva is almost finished cooking, start on your sauce.
    • Add the butter to a saucepan and melt it. Add the sugar and coconut cream and heat together until it reaches a simmer, stirring all the while. Remove from the heat and add the vanilla extract.
    • When the malva comes out the oven, poke holes all over it with a toothpick and then pour over the sauce making sure to distribute it evenly across the whole pudding. Let the sauce sink in and then cut into squares.
    • Serve warm with vegan whipped cream or vegan ice cream.

    Notes

    1. You can probably also use a different non-dairy milk such as almond milk or oat milk though we have not tested all options. 
    2. Use canned full fat unsweetened coconut cream for the sauce. It does not need to be chilled and the cream does not need to be separated from the water, just shake up the can and measure out a cup. You could also use canned, full fat, unsweetened coconut milk. 
    3. An 8×8 square dish is also fine to use, but the baking time may be slightly longer. 
    4. Nutritional information is for the malva pudding and sauce only and excludes ice cream.
    5. This recipe was first published in March 2016.

    Nutrition

    Serving: 1Serving | Calories: 366kcal | Carbohydrates: 57.6g | Protein: 2.5g | Fat: 13.9g | Saturated Fat: 7.9g | Sodium: 333mg | Fiber: 0.7g | Sugar: 40.4g
    DID YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE? Rate it & leave your feedback in the comments section below, or tag @lovingitvegan on Instagram and hashtag #lovingitvegan
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    About the Author

    Hi I'm Alison Andrews, I'm the voice and cook behind Loving It Vegan. I love making delicious vegan food and creating vegan versions of all your old favorites, so that you’ll never feel like you’re missing out. Find out more about me here.

    Loving It Vegan is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. This site may contain some of these links to Amazon.com. If you make a purchase through one of those links, Loving It Vegan will receive a small commission from the purchase at no additional cost to you.

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Robin Wonorski says

      May 15, 2022 at 8:18 pm

      I absolutely love this recipe 😋 my daughter made it for a school social studies assignment and it turned out wonderful!5 stars

      Reply
      • Alison Andrews says

        May 16, 2022 at 11:10 am

        Awesome! Thanks so much for sharing Robin!

        Reply
    2. Heather says

      April 28, 2022 at 7:20 am

      THE BEST vegan Malva pudding recipe ever!!!. Woolworths launched their vegan version, I bought it and will never buy it again. Yours however I will make over, and over, and over again. Home run!!! Good job Alison.5 stars

      Reply
      • Alison Andrews says

        April 28, 2022 at 9:25 am

        Thanks so much Heather!

        Reply
    3. Jacqui says

      December 05, 2021 at 3:30 am

      Holy cow, this was delicious! I’m a South African living in China and hadn’t had mavla pudding in years when I made this recipe for my British husband (vegan) and an American friend (not vegan). They both went nuts for it. Thank you for this fabulous recipe and for giving me a taste of home.5 stars

      Reply
      • Alison Andrews says

        December 06, 2021 at 2:26 pm

        So happy to hear that Jacqui! Thanks for the amazing review!

        Reply
    4. Cristina says

      August 01, 2021 at 1:42 pm

      I tried the recipe today! Delicious! I made the mistake of using raw sugar instead and it tasted a bit like it, but overall good. We tried Malva pudding last week for the first time at a South African restaurant, we loved it. Thank you for the recipe

      Reply
      • Alison Andrews says

        August 02, 2021 at 12:26 pm

        So happy you enjoyed it Christina! Thanks for sharing!

        Reply
    5. Nadia says

      July 09, 2021 at 12:27 pm

      OMG!!! This is the best vegan dessert I have ever eaten!! It’s only July and I already can’t wait to wow everyone this Christmas!! Also, there’s no way of telling that this is vegan (I had some non-vegans confirm!!). From what I remember it tastes exactly like the Woolies one. THANK YOU SO MUCH Alison!! Best wishes from Cape Town!

      Reply
      • Alison Andrews says

        July 09, 2021 at 1:15 pm

        Awesome! So happy to hear that Nadia! 🙂

        Reply
    6. Jaidee says

      April 18, 2021 at 1:09 am

      Can you make smaller portions and freeze them?

      Reply
      • Alison Andrews says

        April 19, 2021 at 2:27 pm

        Hi Jaidee, yes I’m sure you can. It’s freezer friendly for up to 3 months but it’s better to freeze the sauce and pudding separately, then you can thaw in the fridge then reheat and add sauce.

        Reply
    7. Liezl says

      January 05, 2021 at 11:05 am

      Hi, can a mashed banana replace the applesauce in this recipe? Can’t wait to try it!

      Reply
      • Alison Andrews says

        January 08, 2021 at 11:25 am

        You possibly could but it would change the flavor and wouldn’t taste like malva.

        Reply
    8. Samba says

      October 09, 2020 at 2:20 pm

      It was delicious, easily the best recipe for malva I have used!5 stars

      Reply
      • Alison Andrews says

        October 10, 2020 at 9:55 am

        Thanks so much Samba!

        Reply
    9. Clara says

      September 21, 2020 at 4:23 pm

      This is absolutely unreal. I made this for family coming over for dinner and they loved it!5 stars

      Reply
      • Alison Andrews says

        September 22, 2020 at 9:53 am

        Awesome! Thanks for the great review Clara!

        Reply
    10. Christine says

      July 14, 2020 at 6:37 am

      This is my husband’s favourite dessert and I made it for his birthday last week. He is not vegan but was totally blown away at how good it was and thought it just as good if not better than the non-vegan version. Served it with coconut ice cream one night and made (vegan) custard for the next night. Love your recipes Alison.5 stars

      Reply
      • Alison Andrews says

        July 14, 2020 at 12:31 pm

        So happy to hear that Christine! Thanks a million! 🙂

        Reply
    11. Anna says

      July 07, 2020 at 8:57 am

      I’m generally not a sweet toothed person but this looks exceptional so definitely going to try it, but with all purpose gluten free flour. It will probably be just as good.. Thank you for this delightful recipe5 stars

      Reply
      • Alison Andrews says

        July 07, 2020 at 10:34 am

        Hi Anna, yes gluten free all purpose should work just fine! Hope you love the recipe!

        Reply
    12. Tammy Hendershot says

      July 01, 2020 at 6:00 pm

      We are oil free or limit our oil. What can we use to replace the vegan butter? I have vegan coconut sweetened condensed milk. Would that work.

      Reply
      • Alison Andrews says

        July 02, 2020 at 7:26 am

        You could try it!

        Reply
    13. Jan says

      May 12, 2020 at 12:12 pm

      Hi,
      My daughter has severe dairy, egg and nut allergies and while I have been able to makes cakes for her, I never thought I could make malva pudding as all my previous attempts failed. This one tastes really delicious and so glad I found this recipe. Thanks for sharing

      Reply
      • Alison Andrews says

        May 13, 2020 at 10:14 am

        So glad you enjoyed the recipe Jan! Thanks for sharing!

        Reply
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