African Desserts

Central African sweets are less well-known globally but deeply rooted in local tradition. Cassava, coconut, and palm sugar often feature in rustic, satisfying bakes and puddings.

Mikatè is the Congo's version of the doughnut. This popular street food snack can be eaten as an accompaniment to a savoury dish, or sprinkled with icing sugar to eat as sweet snack.

São Tomé and Principe was once a Portuguese colony, until their independence in 1975. Therefore it comes as no surprise that their cuisine is heavily Portuguese influenced. Their desserts are no exception as they inherited the Portuguese taste for all things sweet. Açucarinhas are sweets made with coconut and caramelised sugar.

Ethiopian and Eritrean desserts are heavily influenced by Italian colonists; panettone is particularly popular in Eritrea. The closest I could find to a dessert was Himbasha or Ambasha, a sweet celebration bread popular in both countries.

These coconut and cardamom delights traditionally are eaten at breakfast with Kenyan chai.

It was easy to choose the dessert from Algeria simply by the name alone. Boussou La Tmessou means "kiss, but do not touch", which I think has a romantic element to it.

It's difficult not to touch these enticing little biscuits! Similar to shortbread this roasted sesame seed based pastry originates from Algiers. Once baked it's quickly dipped in orange blossom water to give it flavour and covered with icing sugar. The reason for the name? "Kiss him do no touch" is because of the crumbly and melt-in-your-mouth texture.

Traditionally served during Eid, magrood is a sweet date filled semolina biscuit and is as Libyan as you can get.

Originating from the Zaghouan region, Kåak Warka are small pastries filled with rose water flavoured marzipan, encased by a pastry made with clarified butter. Care must be taken to ensure that these delicate pastries are flawless and are baked at low temperature to ensure they don’t brown.

It took me two attempts to get them near perfect. Well, actually, I dropped my first attempt straight from the oven onto the floor. It was fate, as my second attempt looked far better than first, pre-floor visit.

These pillowy cinnamon doughnut are made with a soft yeast dough with raisins, deep-fried until golden brown, then rolled in cinnamon sugar while still warm. Very delicious and very moreish, I couldn't stop at one! Best enjoyed fresh and still warm.

Out of all the doughnut type desserts, fat cakes were my favourite. Sweet and fluffy fried dough balls, flavoured with a pinch of nutmeg, fat cakes can be eaten with a sweet or savoury dip, or plain. Whatever takes your fancy!

It’s recipes like Tobomutwe which make me pleased that I started this challenge. My aim of this challenge was to source new ingredients and experience new, out of this world, tastes. This recipe gave all this this! The ingredients of mealie meal (maize meal), eggs, milk, and a little sugar, didn’t scream out a delicious moreish treat, but tobomutwe are exactly that. My first taste of tobomutwe and I was hooked!

Tobomutwe are a street food snack enjoyed by many Zambian. Drizzle a little honey or any other sweet syrup and you’ve got yourself a sweet treat.

Bolo de ginguba is a delicious peanut sponge cake from Angola. Simple to make, this is a basic sponge cake recipe flavoured with peanut butter, then ‘iced’ with caramel then completely covered with chopped peanuts.

Biscuits à l’ananas à la poêle, English: pan-fried pineapple biscuits, are from Burkina Faso’s capital, Banfora. I'm unsure that this is a true Burkina Faso recipe as I could only find the recipe on two African sites. One on a Burkina Faso website written by a French food blogger, however, the fact is was on a Burkina Faso website was good enough for me.

Gnonmi are golden, bite-sized fried banana doughnuts that are pure joy in every bite!
These delightful bites are made with ripe bananas, giving them a natural sweetness and a fluffy texture that melts in your mouth. Perfect with a cup of tea, coffee, or simply as they are, Gnonmi is a comforting taste of Ivorian tradition.

I have to admit that I was afraid of making this dessert. The process of extracting the milk from the tiger nuts looked complicated. However, the recipe was so easy to follow. I soon had a delicious creamy slightly sweet dessert to savour.

Raivas found their way into Guinea-Bissau’s cuisine via the Portuguese colonists who ruled the country until the 1970s. The only reference I could find to raivas being popular in Guinea-Bissau were other “cooking around the world” blogs. However, I did find reference to the biscuits on African travel blogger Adeola’s post about her visit to Guinea-Bissau, which was good enough for me.

Made with simple ingredients, there is no rule to what shape or size Raivas should be. You can squiggle and wiggle away to your delight. They’re perfect for dunking, so serve them up with your favourite cup of tea, coffee, or cocoa.

Out of all the countries I’ve baked so far, my research into Liberian cuisine uncovered more than just a dessert. I was completely unaware of its history and strong ties to the USA.

Similar to banana bread, rice bread is eaten as a bread compliment to a meal but you can eat as a cake as part of afternoon tea. The key ingredient, along with bananas and fresh ginger, is Cream of Rice which is coarser than rice flour.

If following the recipe linked here, you may wish to revise the amount of ginger.

Masa (also known as Waina) is a popular fermented rice pancake eaten in Niger and a staple of Hausa people, the country's largest ethnic group. These small pancakes are loved for their soft, airy, spongy-like texture and distinctive fermented flavour.

Masa can be eaten savoury with yaji (a spicy ground pepper mix), or enjoyed as a sweet treat drizzled with honey or rolled in sugar.

Cinq centimes, or five cent cookies, are popular peanut cookies sold in Senegalese markets. They are named so because they were originally small in size just like French coins (centimes). These cookies are simply butter biscuits topped with peanut butter and chopped peanut nuts.

It was difficult, but not unexpected, to find a traditional dessert from Western Sahara. Sahrawis, the major ethic group of Western Sahara, are the biggest consumers of sugar in North Africa. As nomadic community they need energy for the long distances travel. They also believe that sugar has health benefits, instead of sugary sweets, they eat sugar covered barbecued camel and drink hot water with sugar.
Western Sahara is a disbuted terrority in the Maghreb region of North Africa. There has been conflict between the Polisario guerrillas (Sahrawi rebels) and Morocco since the 1975. Some Sahrawis have remained in Western Sahara but there are those who have been forced to seek refuge in the camps of Tindouf, Algeria.

Couscous is a key staple food in Western Sahara, as are peanuts and dates. I decided to take inspiration from these ingredients as well as looking to the Sahrawi allies, Algeria. Taking the Sahrawi staple food into consideration, there was one Algerian dessert which best represented Western Sahara, and that was Mesfouf Qsentena, a sweet date couscous. Using the Teal Tadjine's recipe for Mesfouf del romen houbz Talien, I replaced the pomegranates and sugar with sweet golden North African dates, plus added chopped peanuts. Served with lben (buttermilk), the Mesfouf made a satifying and delicious dessert.

Gâteau patate douce (sweet potato cake) is a popular dessert from La Réunion, an oversea department and region of France. This delicious cake is made with white sweet potatoes, vanilla, and rum.

Godrogodro is a traditional cake from Madagascar that's as unique as it is delicious. Made with rice flour, coconut mik, and warming spices like nutmeg and cinnamon, it gets its rich sweetness from caramel stirred directly into the batter.
What makes this dessert especially distinctive is the method; the batter is first cooked on the hob until it is thick, then transferred to the oven for its final bake. The result is a fragant, comforting cake with a flavour that feels both homely and exotic.

Gateau Napolitaines are delicate crumbly shortbread biscuits, sandwiched with jam and covered with a pink icing.

The origins of Napolitaines is unknown. However, they are thought to take their inspiration from the French who ruled over Mauritius from 1715 to 1810.