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You are here: Home / Recipes / Dessert / Asynpoeding (Vinegar pudding)

Asynpoeding (Vinegar pudding)

by Jeanne Horak on March 23, 2007 30 Comments in Dessert, South African

South African vinegar pudding with ice-cream

As far as I can tell, one of the defining characteristics of the South African palate is a love of sweet things.  Take that most South African of men, my father, as an example.  My mom used to say that as a little girl I never took sugar in my tea or coffee (yes, I was allowed to drink caffeine as a child.  No, it doesn’t appear to have done me any harm!!) – that is, until I saw my beloved Pappa taking sugar in his.  And BOY, did he take sugar.  I remember carrying his little empty espresso cup back to the kitchen to be washed with the base covered in a crust of undissolvable sugar (because, hey, there is only so much water in an expresso cup…).  And when I visit him these days, things continue pretty much along the same lines.  But seeing as he turns 85 this year, it doesn’t appear to have done him much lasting harm 😉 As I have mentioned before, at braais he insists on having thick slices of white bread spread generously with apricot jam.  And he is the only man alive that I have ever seen sprinkling his tomato and mozarella salad with copious amounts of sugar, allegedly because he “likes the crunch”.

I also remember many years when the family would plan to go on holiday when he got home from work at lunchtime on a Friday.  For some reason he would always insist that the quickest and easiest meal to ensure a quick getaway was a “fruit lunch”.  This consisted of tinned mixed fruit salad (which I have never really cared for) and a scoop of ice cream.  Even as a child, something in me found this to be intrinsically wrong – but my father loved it and insisted on it, so the dreaded fruit lunch it was.  Having observed his behaviour in restaurants throughout my whole life I have noticed another fundamental difference between us:  I look forward more than anything to the amuse bouche and the starter.  To me they always sound like the most interesting and quirky dishes on the menu, and by the time dessert comes around I often head straight for the cheeseboard.  For my father, it is the other way round.  He cares not one jot for amuses bouche, canapés or starters and will seldom eat them.  He will have the plainest fish for a main course nine times out of ten.  But when he really gets excited is when he surveys the dessert menu.  No matter how full he is, there is always room for dessert, and the sweeter the better.  Chocolate mousse is a perennial favourite, but creme brulée gets a look in these days too.  And his most vivid and cherished memory of his 80th birthday celebration was not the fact that all six his children came from all over the world to be with him.  Oh no – it’s the Greek chocolate cake he remembers.

So it should then come as no surprise that South Africans love their puddings, and what a rich heritage of puddings we have to draw on!  The French Huguenots gave us blancmange and oeufs a la neige (sneeueiers); the Dutch and their Malay slaves gave us all manner of steamed and baked spicy, fruity puddings; and the English left behind a trail of trifle and bread and butter pudding.   When you look in an Afrikaans recipe book you are amazed at the range of hot puddings that appear there:  predikantsvroupoeding (vicar’s wife pudding), Jan Ellispoeding (apparently named after famous Springbok rugby player Jan Ellis), bruinpoeding (brown pudding), sagopoeding (sago pudding), malvapoeding (literally, mallow pudding, although it contains no marshmallows…), armmanspoeding (poor man’s pudding) – and the subject of my post today, asynpoeding (vinegar pudding). Try as I might, I could not find the historical antecedents of this pudding, but if anybody knows of an English, French or Dutch pudding that includes a syrup made from vinegar, I’d be very pleased to hear from them.  Like most of our puddings, the ingredients are pretty basic and include Afrikaner staples like apricot jam, ginger and nutmeg.  Some recipes also include raisins, but I prefer to leave them out.  And although the name seems to suggest something lip-puckeringly, erm, vinegary, don’t worry:  the vinegar is only in the syrup and is actually a nice subtle counterbalance to the sweetness, as well as marrying beautifully with the spices.  Although it’s only one step away from being a self-saucing pudding, it is traditionally served with runny vla (custard).  But as there is plenty of sauce already, I served it with good vanilla ice cream.

This one’s for you, dad – the pudding monster 😉

 

South African vinegar pudding with ice-cream


ASYNPOEDING
(VINEGAR PUDDING)
for 4 – 6

Ingredients

For the syrup:
250ml boiling water
150g granulated sugar
62.5 ml (5 Tbsp) white vinegar

For the batter:
15g butter
75 g (6 Tbsp) granulated sugar
1 Tbsp smooth apricot jam
1 egg, beaten
80g (190ml) plain flour
2ml baking soda
1ml salt
5ml ground ginger
1ml ground nutmeg
25ml milk

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 180C.  To make the syrup, over medium heat, heat the vinegar, boiling water and sugar.  Stir until all the sugar has dissolved.  Allow to come to the boil and then remove from the heat and allow to cool.

Cream together the butter and sugar, then stir in the jam and beaten egg and mix well.  Sift the dry ingredients together, then alternately stir in portions of the dry ingredients and the milk into the egg/butter/sugar mix until well mixed.

Spoon mixture into a buttered ovenproof dish with sides twice as high as the level of the batter.  Pour the syrup carefully over the batter (there will be a lot of syrup – this is correct!) and bake for 35-40 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.  Serve hot with custard, whipped cream or ice-cream.

Notes

You can use any kind of white vinegar – I have used white wine, apple cider and apricot vinegars.   I would not recommend strongly flavoured vinegars like malt or balsamic.

There will seem to be way too much syrup when you pour it over the batter – almost as much as the batter itself.  Yes, the syrup will completely cover the batter like a lake, but this is normal.  Don’t panic! As you bake, the syrup will soak into the batter and migrate to the bottom of the dish, so that once the pudding is baked, there will be sauce in the base of the dish to spoon over each serving.  It’s really not that different to a self-saucing pudding.

[This post forms part of an new occasional series entitled “South African recipes from A to Z” and also appears on SA Rocks under my weekly Rainbow Pantry column.]

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  1. Ash says

    March 23, 2007 at 10:10 am

    So so happy to get this recipe! I am making it tonight! We often have Malva pudding, but I had lost my Vinegar pudding recipe. I can empathise with your dad. I’m a pudding junkie and proud of it!

    Reply
  2. Charlotte says

    March 23, 2007 at 10:50 am

    Thanks for the recipe. I am going to give it a go when I get off this no sugar for Lent malarky. Do you use any specific vinegar?
    I must be a true South African, because I have a major sweet tooth. By the way, whenever I say “pudding” in Germany, people pucker their brows. To them a pudding is a like a milky set jelly. I have to remember to say “dessert” and then we all understand each other.

    Reply
  3. Aquila says

    March 23, 2007 at 12:17 pm

    and the more custard you put on this baby the better…
    Nice one.

    Reply
  4. M. Girlie and L. Pants says

    March 23, 2007 at 3:11 pm

    Jeanne, this recipe looks outstanding! And like a good conversation piece, too, for those of us who didn’t grow up with vinegar pudding. Incidentally, your dad sounds a lot like mine… no sweets are safe in my parents’ house.
    Thanks so much for the link on your sidebar! Glad you’re enjoying our blog!

    Reply
  5. Ros says

    March 23, 2007 at 10:16 pm

    Your Dad sounds a lot like mine, from the sweet tooth to the bizarre restaurant behaviour you mentioned in a comment on my site. When I was growing up, I used to come downstairs to find Dad making sugar sandwiches for breakfast. Just a thin spread of (healthy living!) marge and an inch thick layer of white sugar in between two slices of white bread. Even as an 8 year old I thought it was unpalatable!
    Now, the vinegar in this pudding does sound strange but I am very willing to believe it works perfectly. I don’t make dessert often but this is something I am very keen to try.

    Reply
  6. Scott at Realepicurean says

    March 24, 2007 at 9:15 am

    This just has to be tried doesn’t it? I can’t imagine how it could taste nice – but I’ll trust for now that it does. So very unique – I love the idea!

    Reply
  7. herschelian says

    March 24, 2007 at 6:26 pm

    I love all the old fashioned South African puddings – personally I love Malva pudding, but my family adore Cape Brandy Pudding.
    As to using vinegar in desserts, years ago I had a spate of pie making, and an American friend from Massachussets gave me a recipe for Vinegar Pie (actually it is what I would call a tart, as it doesn’t have a top crust) which is quite delicious. Also, I use a spoonful of vinegar when I make a Pavlova.
    Do you think that the use of vinegar in this pudding could have arisen from the days when the Afrikaaner wives had trekked up country and didn’t have lemons and lemon juice available and used vinegar to acidulate the syrup instead?

    Reply
    • Joyce says

      October 9, 2016 at 9:13 am

      Possibly started by the “Voortrekkers” ! I have made this pudding (dessert) many times and it was a great hit in the 50’s for sure but it is delicious with custard – so do make that to go with this pudding. If you are in South Africa ,you will know what custard is; I’m sure of that.Custard powder is available there. Enjoy!!!

      Reply
  8. Ash says

    March 24, 2007 at 6:38 pm

    I didn’t make the vinegar pudding yet – got sidetracked by a Parsnip Cake! I was wondering if you had a recipe for Tipsy Tart? My mom used to make it all the time and I remember it being really nice, but haven’t found a recipe for it. It’s a South African thing too, I think.

    Reply
  9. johanna says

    March 25, 2007 at 12:16 pm

    it would seem that your dad is austrian (that would explain your name, too!) – as we austrians are born with two stomachs: one for food, one for dessert!
    and your coffee story reminds me of chris’ dad who used tp fill his cup with (filter) coffee un to 1cm under the rim, fill up with milk, then drop as many sugar cubes in as he could manage without the coffee overflowing. the older he grew, the more unlikely it was to have a coffee break which didn’t end up with a minor flooding!

    Reply
  10. Sarah Pippilini says

    April 6, 2007 at 12:06 am

    I add a thingie of vanilla to this recipe…..

    Reply
  11. Karen Retief says

    December 23, 2007 at 8:27 am

    Hi there
    Was so happy when I saw your recipe. My Aunt use to make it for us back home and this is my daughters XMAS wish to have some this Xmas. giving it a go!!!
    Cheers
    KAren

    Reply
  12. Malcolm Harper says

    May 14, 2008 at 9:49 am

    Can you tell me what is cake flour and how do I convert ml into grama or oz?. I am trying to make the Vinegar Pudding.

    Reply
  13. Malcolm Harper says

    May 14, 2008 at 9:50 am

    Can you tell me what is cake flour and how do I convert ml into grams or oz?. I am trying to make the Vinegar Pudding.

    Reply
  14. Jeanne says

    May 14, 2008 at 8:41 pm

    Hi Malcom
    Cake flour is plain white flour (as opposed to self-raising flour or strong bread flour or wholewheat flour). As for the conversions, I would use this very nifty converter:
    http://www.convert-me.com/en/
    You can input the ingredient (say, flour) and it will tell you that 190ml of flour is abotu 4 oz. Try it!

    Reply
  15. Bordeaux says

    February 25, 2009 at 7:09 am

    I made this one for X’s family in Albuquerque. And I mean his whole family on dad’s side, which is big. So I multiplied it. Which would have been fine if I did not multiply the vinegar sauce as well. In the end it turned out to be more of a slop than anything else. Silly me! His mom suggested I serve it with ice cream and pretend that’s how its done which I did and the guests loved it! One kid did actually suggest it tasted more like a baked pudding, just not baked. Haha! Can’t wait till we have a new kitchen to try it again though, and this time only for myself. 🙂

    Reply
    • Jeanne says

      October 25, 2015 at 12:38 pm

      Hi Bordeaux – when you first pour the sauce over it does look like WAY too much – but you just need to bake it till the sauce incorporates into the batter 🙂 It’s almost a self-saucing pudding recipe – even when baked, there will be some sauce in the bottom of the dish for pouring over when serving. The longer you leave t to stand after baking, the more sauce will get soaked up into the batter too.

      Reply
  16. Andrew says

    May 17, 2009 at 3:12 pm

    Tried this and it was a disaster, vinegary and sour,with so much “vinegar sauce” I had to pour it away, so must have done something wrong. So let’s start with the ingredients – what kind of vinegar – I used white wine vinegar. Second, “cake flour” threw me – I used self raising flour. Otherwise followed the recipe, quantities correct as far as I could judge, since I usually measure by weight, not volume.
    Any suggestions welcome!!

    Reply
    • Jeanne says

      October 25, 2015 at 12:36 pm

      Hi Andrew – I’m sorry you did not have success with the recipe. I made it again yesterday using the exact recipe I posted back in 2007 and the only correction that I would make is to say that 20 mins is probably not long enough for the bake – 35-40 in my current oven is closer to the right time, but as I said, until a skewer comes out clean. Yes, when you first pour the syrup over the batter, it looks like way too much – almost as much as the batter – this is entirely correct and the way it should be. As you bake, the syrup incorporates into the pudding to make it moist. If you throw the sauce away then the pudding will dry out. When baked, there will still be some sauce in the base of the pudding dish – rather like a self-saucing pudding – but it will be thicker and sweeter than when you originally added it to the batter. As to the type of vinegar, I have made it with white wine vinegar, with apple cider vinegar and yesterday with apricot vinegar. The only vinegars you can’t use are the very strongly flavoured ones like malt vinegar or balsamic vinegar. Cake flour is a common term in South Africa but not really in the UK I have learnt! I use plain flour, not self-raising (although the SR flour should not make a huge difference other than making the pudding rise more). I do hope you try it again as I had rave reviews from our guests yesterday 🙂

      Reply
  17. Skitter says

    June 8, 2009 at 1:45 pm

    Thanks for the recipe- I googled Vinegar pudding and your Blog came up. I really enjoyed reading and forwarded the link to my sister in Canada (I’m in SA) since she’s sooooo going to relate to you on lots of levels !

    Reply
  18. Richard says

    November 3, 2010 at 4:20 pm

    Great pudding used to makr this when i did national service

    Reply
    • Warren. says

      February 22, 2014 at 12:27 pm

      Hi.
      Just made this pudding. There seemed to be a lot of syrup to be pored on top of the batter mix.
      Also after 20 minutes cooking time my batter mix was still runny. I cooked it for a futher 20 minutes and the skewer came out clean. And also with the longer cooking time the vinegary syrup thickened up to.
      Just going to let it cool slighty and then serve it to my guests…

      Reply
  19. angela says

    April 8, 2016 at 3:17 am

    your recipe does not state milk or how much in the ingredients list, only says milk in method….

    Reply
    • Jeanne says

      April 8, 2016 at 9:02 am

      Hi Angela – thanks for your comment. Milk is on the ingredient list – it’s the last item so maybe you missed it 🙂 It’s 25ml of milk. Hope you enjoy the pudding!

      Reply
  20. Ebeneezaar says

    June 18, 2016 at 11:12 pm

    This recipe is ok … but it needs more batter! It needs more flour.

    Reply
  21. Ginny Drum says

    December 29, 2016 at 7:31 pm

    I’ve been looking high and low for a recipe for a white vinegar-tasting cream sauce that my grandmother made along side of bread pudding. Sadly, she passed away before I was old enough to care about the old recipes. So far, this vinegar syrup is the closest I can find. I was a small child last time I had it but the sweet flavor of the bread pudding topped with the mildly sour sauce was divine and the memory has stuck with me over the decades. Thank you so much for posting this recipe.

    Reply
  22. Valerie says

    June 12, 2017 at 11:45 am

    Hi Cookie,
    Good recipe but your milk reads wrong.
    shouldn’t it be 250ml. Also i would not recommend
    using apple cider vinegar. I didn’t give off that lovely
    flavour one looks for in a vinegar pudding.

    Reply
  23. Mahadi says

    April 22, 2018 at 1:58 pm

    The best vinegar pudding ever exactly like my mothers lost recipe.thank u very much

    Reply
  24. Lejeune Wolfaardt says

    June 28, 2020 at 2:12 pm

    I was so excited to make this BUT… Am I the only one who’s pudding didn’t even fill a quarter of a regular Pyrex pudding bowl. Used exact ingredients and measure and got a hockey ball sized dough with 3 x the amount of syrup?

    I used a tiny veggie serving bowl, but couldn’t even fill that. Doughy mixture was about 4 cm think with about 10cm of sauce?
    Does anyone else have feedback.?

    Reply
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💩 The pumping station was decommissioned and abandoned in the 1950s but declared a listed building in 1970.  Although all 4 beam engines remain in place, they were so damaged that today (thanks to the efforts of the Crossness Engines Trust) only Prince Consort has been restored to working condition and can be seen in action on open days.

💩 The exuberant and colourful wrought ironwork inside is the amazing work of architect Charles Henry Driver. My favourite detail is the fact that the pillars in the central atrium are topped with stylised figs and senna pods... two of nature's greatest natural laxatives 🤣
*NEW RECIPE* Roasted Brussels sprouts with feta ch *NEW RECIPE* Roasted Brussels sprouts with feta cheese, pomegranate and pine nuts

Ever noticed how you are affected by colours? 🌈

Maybe some colours make you agitated and some make you relaxed. Or maybe you find yourself inexplicably attracted to a particular colour (oh, hi teal and aqua!💙). On the basis that all colours have a wavelength, and that those outside the visible spectrum can affect us, it makes sense that the colours we see can affect our mood or even our physiology. Did you know for instance that exposure to red light can increase your blood pressure and heart rate? Are there any colours that you find yourself particularly attracted to or affected by?

The pretty colours of these roasted Brussels sprouts with feta cheese, pomegranate and pine nuts will be the first things that attract you to this dish - but it is the delicious combination of flavours and textures that will keep you coming back for more!

The recipe (and more about how colour affects us mentally and physically) is now live on my blog - click the live link in my profile and remember to like and bookmark this post to see more Cooksister in your Instagram feed ❤️
Perspective: a particular attitude towards or way Perspective: a particular attitude towards or way of regarding something.

Perspective is the one thing that the Covid-19 pandemic has given us plenty of. It has certainly made us re-evaluate what is truly important, and also what we did and didn't enjoy about our lives  before the pandemic and its associated lockdowns. It made me appreciate how much happiness my house, my job, my friends, my own company and my running bring to my life (and how fortunate I am to have all these things). But it also brought home how much I enjoy and miss travel, the theatre, and the luxury of reataurant visits at the drop of a hat. I don't think words can describe my joy at sipping the first coffee purchased from a coffee shop in summer 2020 as lockdown eased. It's the little things...

One of the things I have enjoyed and will not miss as the world creeps back to normality is the absence of crowds in what is usually a crowded city. On the occasions that I have been in central London since the start of the pandemic, streets have been blissfully empty and it has felt as if I were discovering my city anew. This glorious perspective (hah!) of St Paul's Cathedral normally requires a long wait while a queue of tourists and "influencers" ahead of you pose for photos - but on this glorious day last Spring it was almost deserted. I will miss that...

Is there anything you will miss as Covid-19 restrictions start to be lifted?
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Jeanne Horak is a freelance food and travel writer; recipe developer and photographer. South African by birth and Londoner by choice, Jeanne has been writing about food and travel on Cooksister since 2004. She is a popular speaker on food photography and writing has also contributed articles, recipes and photos to a number of online and print publications. Jeanne has also worked with a number of destination marketers to promote their city or region. Please get in touch to work with her Read More…

Latest Recipes

Salmon with blood oranges dill and capers
Brussels sprouts with feta and pomegranate
Roast lamb with pomegranate glaze
Blood orange & pistachio galettes
Cauliflower topped steak with melted cheese
Plate of potted smoked salmon with slaw and a glass of champagne
bowls of pistachio pomegranate bircher muesli
Brussels sprouts with chorizo & hazelnuts

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