That staple of church bazaars, the humble koeksister, is finally getting the recognition it deserves.
A 2m-high statue of the syrupy confection, with its trademark twist, is to be unveiled in the Afrikaner enclave of Orania on Saturday.
The memorial is the brainchild of Orania's Kaalvoet women's organisation, named for the Voortrekker Susanna Smit who said she would rather walk barefoot (kaalvoet) over the Drakensberg than suffer under British rule.
Chairwoman of Kaalvoet Lida Strydom said on Wednesday that the organisation sought to teach women new skills, but also to preserve traditions.
"Baking koeksisters is very traditional to the Afrikaner, but in modern life when things move so quickly they don't have the time to make them," she said.
"It's important that this tradition, and these skills, are not lost."
Many young people in fact no longer knew how to make koeksisters.
The koeksister was also to a large extent a symbol of the self-sufficiency and endurance of the Afrikaner woman, she said.
For generations, when they wanted to raise funds for projects such as orphanages, churches or schools, rather than going out to ask for money, they baked and sold koeksisters.
The idea for the monument was proposed to Kaalvoet by an architect at Orania, but it had since emerged that it was first suggested years ago by former head of the Vrouefederasie, Johanna Raath.
Strydom said she, with help from her husband, made a specimen koeksister and sent it by express post to a sculpture foundry in Simon's Town, where a larger-scale polystyrene model was made.
However, when she and a Kaalvoet colleague drove down, they discovered the model was not plaited correctly.
They then made a clay koeksister, which was taken to a design workshop where its dimensions were digitally mapped, and a second polystyrene model cut by computer.
This was covered with fibreglass, coloured and sandblasted.
The finsihed product did not look simply like a larger-than-life koeksister, she said.
"It was important to keep it sculptural. It's not like a proper koeksister, but it's nice to look at."
The statue is to be mounted on a cement base near Orania's swimming pool, and will be unveiled on Saturday by Anna Boshoff, a daughter of former prime minister HF Verwoerd and a koeksister expert herself.
Strydom said there would also be a koeksister eating competition on Saturday.
The prize would be a small silver pendant, in the shape of a koeksister. - Sapa