Cupcakes in South Africa are part of cultural identity, one of the things that exiles in a foreign land long for. Children are raised on Rooibos tea (an aromatic herbal tea) and biscuits. These aren’t the soggy, pale affairs that go by for cupcakes in the UK – Farley cupcakes given to teething babies that are guaranteed to cover the entire house in a gooey gooey paste. South African biscuits have a texture between bread and cake, with extra chunks of raisins or nuts, baked hard to be dipped in tea or slowly bitten into. They last a long time in an airtight can so they are baked in large batches but still don’t last long in our house.

As an Englishwoman married to a South African living in London, I found cupcakes on our visits to his family and was instantly converted. The ‘Ouma’s Rusks’ are the famous ones that come in various varieties and we always came home with some packages in our suitcase. On a longer visit to a country house in Philadelphia, near Cape Town, I came across a recipe for baking my own cupcakes, tried it, and have been baking it every two weeks pretty much ever since.

When our son was a little boy and woke up at 5.30 in the morning, the only thing that made the morning bearable was the thought of tea and cupcakes. Our son started them early and our couch became a nest of cushions and crumbs. The first thing that helped to bake were cupcakes and I always tried my patience as the mixture became the scene of excavations with excavators or a castle with a moat. The girls also joined when they were old enough, so for a while I had three boys struggling to get their hands on it. Now the youngest is adept at making balls the right size and I have a band of helpful helpers. So cupcakes have also become part of our family culture, my kids may have missed the rooibos tea tradition (love it, they hate it), but at least they were educated correctly when it comes to cupcakes.

Several friends in London fell in love, asked for the recipe and started baking and it has since spread to Pakistan and the US.

The recipe:

South African buttermilk biscuits

1,240 kg of flour (I use 1 kg of whole wheat flour and the rest white)

2 teaspoons of baking powder

2 teaspoons of baking soda

2 teaspoons cream of tartar

2 teaspoons of salt

250g butter

½ cup raisins (optional)

2 eggs

1 ½ cups brown sugar

2 cups of buttermilk

1 cup of oil

(1 cup = 250ml)

Preheat the oven to 190C / 380F

Grease three base size 20cmx10cm / 8 “x 4” bread cans or any combination of deep baking dish that adds up to about the same.

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt. Cut the butter into small cubes and rub it with the flour. Add the raisins if you are using them. You can also experiment with various nuts and seeds, although the biscuits are just as good.

In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, sugar, eggs, and oil and beat until well combined. Add the liquid to the dry ingredients and mix, then knead until you have a firm dough.

Roll the dough into balls the size of a ping pong ball and pack them neatly in a layer in the bread tins. I usually put six rows of three in each of my cans. Bake for 45 minutes.

Place on a wire rack and cool for 30 minutes before dividing into individual cupcakes along the ball joints. Dry in an oven under 100C / 200F for 4-5 hours until the center is completely dry. These can be stored for years in an airtight container.

Warning: crumbs guaranteed on the sofa, in the bed, on the carpet and in the car seats.

Copyright 2006 Kit Heathcock