Marmite and cheese cake

Mixing sweet and savoury is typical South African: we grew up with combinations such as grated cheese and apricot jam, or cheese and golden syrup, on sandwiches or vetkoek. Although it was a little unusual at first, Jaco’s colleagues quickly became partial to these small marmite and cheese cakes, baked in muffin pans for morning tea.

While it is fun to make small cakes, the usual method is to bake it in a single cake pan.

We’d like to encourage you to try it. It is surprisingly delicious.

Ingredients

Cake

  • 1 extra large egg
  • ¾ cup (200 ml) sugar
  • ¼ cup (60 ml) oil
  • 1½ cup (375 ml) flour
  • ¼ teaspoon (1 ml) salt
  • 2 teaspoons (10 ml) baking powder
  • 1 cup (250 ml) milk

Topping

  • 100 gram butter
  • 3 to 4 teaspoons (15 to 20 ml) Marmite (or use Your Mate, Vegemite or Bovril)
  • ¾ cup (200 ml) grated cheddar cheese

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 180°C.
  2. Beat egg, add sugar and whisk together.
  3. Add oil and beat until light and creamy.
  4. Sift dry ingredients and add to the egg mix with the milk. Mix thoroughly.
  5. Bake in 24 cm ovenproof dish for about 45 minutes, or in muffin pans for 25 to 30 minutes. Prepare the topping while the cake is in the oven.
  6. Melt butter and Marmite and mix together.
  7. Pour warm mixture over hot cake when it’s cooked, sprinkle with grated cheese and return to oven until the cheese melted.

Notes

Serve warm or cold.