South African Melktert

History

Melktert (literally “milk tart” in Afrikaans) traces back to the Dutch settlers of the Cape, who arrived as early as the 17th century bringing European cream-tart traditions with them before adapting them to locally available ingredients. The dessert took deep root in Afrikaner culinary heritage, its cinnamon-spiced cream filling over a shortcrust base becoming a staple of family Sundays and community gatherings.

South Africa even celebrates a “Melktert Day” every February 27th, a fairly recent and informal initiative driven more by food media than any longstanding official holiday, but one that speaks to the dessert’s lasting nostalgic status. The recipe varies noticeably from one family to the next, with some swearing by a baked version and others by a no-bake one, on either a shortcrust base or a crushed-biscuit crust.

Ingredients — Serves 6-8

• 1 shortcrust pastry shell (homemade or store-bought)
• 1 L (4 cups) whole milk
• 150 g (¾ cup) sugar
• 50 g (⅓ cup) flour + 30 g (¼ cup) cornstarch
• 3 eggs
• 1 cinnamon stick + ground cinnamon for dusting
• A knob of butter, vanilla

The South African melktert recipe, step by step

1. Line a tart pan with the shortcrust pastry, prick the base with a fork, and blind-bake for 10 minutes.
2. Infuse the milk with the cinnamon stick over low heat, without boiling, then remove the cinnamon.
3. Whisk the eggs, sugar, flour, and cornstarch together until smooth and well combined.
4. Gradually pour the hot milk over the mixture while whisking, then return everything to low heat.
5. Cook, stirring constantly, until it thickens into a coatable custard, then stir in the butter and vanilla.
6. Pour into the tart shell, smooth the surface, dust with cinnamon, and let cool before serving well chilled.

Cooking method

Technique: a classic pastry cream cooked over low heat, poured into a blind-baked shell.

Traditional equipment: a fluted tart pan; a simple pan with a removable base works perfectly well.

Signs to look for: the custard should coat the back of a spoon without running off; if it’s still runny, keep cooking over very low heat, stirring.

Nutrition, per serving

Calculated from the raw ingredient quantities above, divided across seven servings, the middle of the stated 6-8 range.

Milk is the dominant ingredient by weight — a full litre for the filling of one tart — which is why carbohydrate, mostly milk sugar and added sugar together, outweighs protein by a wide margin. The shortcrust base contributes roughly half of the saturated fat; the custard itself, egg- and milk-based, contributes the rest.

A no-bake, crushed-biscuit-crust version, which some families prefer over the shortcrust base used here, would shift these figures slightly toward more fat and less protein.

Economic context

Milk, eggs, flour and sugar are about as basic a shopping list as a dessert can have, which fits melktert’s history as a family Sunday staple rather than a special-occasion splurge. Its enduring, informal “Melktert Day” says more about nostalgia than about cost — this remains one of the least expensive traditional desserts to reproduce at home.

Source: World Bank / FAO, Food Prices for Nutrition database (Cost and Affordability of a Healthy Diet) v4.0, 2024 data, CC BY 4.0, DOI 10.57966/41AN-KY81. Retrieved 29 July 2026. This figure describes the cost of a healthy diet in South Africa generally — it is not a costing of this specific recipe.

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