I’ve got a craving for something sweet, and nothing sounds better than a trip around the world!
Specifically, I’m talking about the vibrant and diverse continent of Africa, where desserts are as rich in flavor as they are in culture.
So get ready to treat your taste buds to an unforgettable adventure as I share 19 incredible African dessert recipes that will have you saying “Yum!” in every language.
1. Makroud el louse (Almond Cookies)
These distinct cookies only need sugar, water, eggs, almonds, and confectioner’s sugar.
If you can’t find orange flower water, substitute with lemon essence instead. The taste is similar to Italian wedding cookies, only tangier.
2. Banana Glace
This is a great dessert for banana fans. Mash, mix, and then freeze the bananas.
Cut eight more bananas in half, place them on a plate, and cover with the frozen banana paste. You can include your favorite toppings, like nuts, sprinkles, or candied fruits.
3. Baseema
This treat from the Sudan region is called “delicious,” which says all you need to know.
You’ll create it using yogurt, flour, coconut, sugar, and basic baking ingredients. After the cake is baked, you’ll drench it in a glaze made with sugar, water, and lemon juice.
4. South African Peppermint Crisp Fridge Tart
Sometimes I want something sweet and scrumptious but do not want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen. That is where this recipe comes in.
This recipe is delicious and lovely and requires you to just mix and arrange things. It has layers of peppermint essence, caramelized condensed milk, cookies, sugar, whipped cream, and peppermint crisp chocolate bars. It’s a cool, delicious, minty indulgence.
5. Shuku Shuku (Coconut Balls)
You’ll only need four things to create these tasty, airy Nigerian macaroons: superfine sugar, unsweetened coconut flakes, self-rising flour, and egg yolks.
You will preheat your oven, then mix the sugar, coconut, and egg yolks until you have a dough that is thick. Roll the dough into balls, dredge in flour, then bake for 20 minutes.
6. Chocolate Malva Pudding
This cake is like the malva pudding recipe mentioned earlier, with vinegar, apricot jam, and brown sugar. The difference lies in the sauce.
Chocolate malva pudding features a rich chocolate sauce instead of a syrupy sauce. Top it with sliced strawberries and whipped cream because strawberries and chocolate belong together!
7. West African Lime Cake
If you like cake that is extremely tart and tangy, try this recipe that uses basic ingredients. The lime flavor is strong.
If you include chopped peanuts, the salt complements the sweet and tart flavor, giving this cake a margarita taste.
8. Umm Ali (Egyptian Bread Pudding)
This is similar to bread pudding, with some tasty additions. Cinnamon, coconut flakes, walnuts, raisins, and pistachios are included.
It takes under an hour to prepare, with a 30-minute bake time.
9. Meskouta (Moroccan Yogurt Cake)
This is Morocco’s version of American bundt cake. You’ll combine eggs, flour, sugar, unsweetened yogurt, vegetable oil, salt, vanilla, and baking powder.
Bake for 45 minutes. This is a straightforward cake to make, but you’ll need a tube or bundt pan.
10. Crunchies (South African Oatmeal Bars)
These are for people who don’t like granola bars. And people who are on the fence. And people who like granola bars.
They’re truly for everyone. They have every flavor possible: sweet, spicy, salty, buttery, nutty, crunchy, and syrupy. They are also easy to create, with 10 minutes of prep time and 30 minutes of bake time.
11. Sonhos De Banana
Sonhos de bananas are doughnuts that have mashed bananas in the dough and are deep-fried.
To make them, deep-fry and sprinkle a cinnamon-sugar mix on top. It’ll only take about 20 minutes to create them.
12. Chebakia (Moroccan Sesame Cookies)
It may take some practice to shape these rose-shaped cookies precisely right. Luckily, you can eat all your mistakes.
Besides shaping them, they are pretty easy to prepare. The product is gorgeous, crispy, syrupy cookies that will brighten up any special event.
13. Akwadu
Here is another great, banana-heavy dish. You would usually serve it for breakfast. But it’s sweet enough for dessert.
They’re baked bananas drenched in fruit juices, cinnamon, brown sugar, butter, coconut, and honey. Overall, it’s among the tastiest ways to eat bananas.
14. Melt-in-Mouth Butter Cookies (Egyptian Ghorayebah)
To create these soft cookies, you’ll need just a bit of baking powder, ghee (unsalted butter won’t work), flour, and powdered sugar. You can also include slivered almonds.
With these few things, you can prepare 35 tasty, bite-sized cookies in just 30 minutes. They’re soft to the point that they melt when you eat them, and you can mold them into fun shapes.
15. Basbousa
This cake is soft, sweet, and drenched with a syrup made from honey and lemon juice, with nuts on top.
Since it uses a lot of coconut, vanilla extract, sugar, honey, and yogurt, it has intense sweetness. Because of this, try serving it with something to offset the sweetness, such as unsweetened coffee or tea.
16. Hertzoggies
They taste similar to filled biscuits with apricot jam and coconut meringue. You should already have most of what you need to create them.
They have a fluffy top, fruity middle, and a flaky bottom. They are also highly addictive.
17. Koeksisters
They take two-and-a-half hours to create, but much of that period is time for cooling, resting, and refrigerating. These are simply gorgeous. They are golden braided doughnuts with a shiny glaze.
But they are also a warm, sticky mess, which is fine. All the best food is a little messy.