Wentelteefjes, is the Dutch word for what we know today as French Toast. This dish can be traced back more than 2000 years to a Roman chef called Apicius, who cooked for the aristocracy during the time of Christ. It was definitely part of Cape cuisine from the very beginning and a recipe for Wentelteefjes can be found in the Cape cookbook of historic culinary figure, Hildagonda Duckitt.

Try this recipe using seasonal mosbolletjies with sweet spice, fresh herbs,  bacon, sultanas and nuts for a breakfast to remember! Do serve with a glass of our 2016 La Motte Méthode Cap Classique!

Mosbolletjie French toast

Serves 8

Ingredients

2 medium sized mosbolletjies (16 buns, 2 per person)

6 whole eggs and 3 egg yolks

1 cup full cream milk

¼ cup pouring cream

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon ground black pepper

⅓ teaspoon brown cardamom

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

Freshly grated nutmeg 

1 small piece of minced fresh ginger

Zest of 1 orange

1 tbsp picked thyme

1 tbsp chopped rosemary

½ cup of toasted pecan nuts, chopped

¼ cup sultanas

¼ cup toasted rolled oats

1⁄3 cup packed demerara sugar

150 g crispy grilled bacon, cooled and diced (reserve drippings to fry onions)

1 onion finely diced (fried lightly in some of the reserved bacon fat from grilled bacon)

Method

Preheat oven 170 ˚C.

Spray a 21 cm spring form pan with non-stick spray and line with baking paper at the bottom and along the sides.

In a mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, egg yolks, salt, cream and milk.

In a second bowl, combine the spices, nuts, oats, sugar and chopped herbs and seasoning.

Slice mosbolletjies and start layering the cake pan with bread, packing tightly, and sprinkle with some of the sugar, spice and oatmeal mix, onions and bacon and add a ladle of custard.  Repeat this process until all the mosbolletjie and filling has been used. Make sure to add all of your egg custard.

Bake in a pre-heated oven at  for 45 minutes to an hour.

Test the middle of your French toast cake by piercing it with a small knife to make sure the egg custard is cooked all the way through.

Remove from the oven and leave to cool for 10 minutes, before removing from the cake pan.

Serve with some more crispy bacon, caramelised onions and melted butter.