Rasmalai cake

Every now and then in the cake world just as with food and fashion a craze of some sort begins and before you know it that one particular thing seems to be trending all over.

For my latest recipe post this is excatly one of those things - rasmalai cake. For those that don't know, rasmalai is a classic Asian/ Indian dessert of little milk dough balls served in rose water scented & lightly spiced cardamom milk. Then garnished with pistachios and occasionally saffron

Now this in cake form in it's various versions combines all those elements in a light fluffy sponge with the addition of delicate edible rose petals and. 

Being a British  Muslim of Pakistani heritage and a lover of cake and rasmalai cake I knew I had to make my own version. 

To make my rasmalai cake you will need: 

For the sponge:

2 x 7" loose bottom sandwich tins - lightly greased 

& lined with greaseproof paper 

225 g self raising flour

20g milk powder

4medium eggs

Pinch of saffron 

3 tbsp warm milk 

250g caster sugar 

250g margarine - at room temp

2tsp ground cardamom

For the filling & decorating :

250g salted butter - at room temp

250g pistachio flavour icing sugar

250g icing sugar

4tbsp rose water

2tbsp rose syrup

50g chopped pistachios 

10-12g edible rose petals

Milk powder paste - made up of 3 tbsp milk powder & 1/4 tsp ground cardamom with 3 tbsp hot water mixed to make a speadable paste

• Start by preheat your oven to 160c fan. Mix the saffron with the warm milk and set aside.
• Cream the margarine and sugar in a freestanding mixer until light, fluffy and paler in colour.
• Add in the eggs, flour, milk powder and ground cardamom. Whisk together until fully combined, but take care not to overmix
• Whisk in the saffron milk, then pour the batter evenly into the 2 tins, bake for 25-30 mins.
• Remove the cake from the oven, whilst the sponges are slightly warm, poke holes all over the top of the both of them. Remove from the tin once completely cool
• Take one of the sponges and set onto your desired serving plate/dish
• Spread enough of the milk paste to cover the top of the sponge that you've set onto your serving plate - leave a half inch plain border all round the cake as you dont want the milk paste to drip down the sides.
• Make the buttercream by placing the butter, both icing sugars and the rose syrup and whisking together on a slow speed to incorporate it all together. 
• Once it's all mixed together,  turn up the speed slightly, pour in the rose water and beat the buttercream till light and fluffy - it should be a thick but spreadable consistency. If it is too thick, add a couple of tablespoons of milk or room temp water and beat together for a couple of minutes.
• Transfer some of the prepared buttercream to a piping bag, then pipe enough buttercream over the milk paste topped sponge. Use a spatula or breakfast knife to spread the buttercream out evenly- remembering to leave a plain edge border all the way round the cake.
• Carefully stack the second sponge on top ensuring both sponges are level.
• Use the piping bag again to pipe the buttercream all around the sides and top of the cake.
• Take your spatula/breakfast knife and smooth the buttercream all over and gently scrape off any excess. Place the covered cake in the fridge for about 20 minutes to set
• Apply a second coat of buttercream once the first layer has set. As before use a spatula to smooth and remove any excess.
• Press the edible rose petals into the bottom edge of cake using your fingers
• Sprinkle the top of the cake with the chopped pistachios, and with any left over buttercream, pipe a pattern all the way round the edge and finish off with a few petals all over the top,

Starbucks .. Eat ya heart out

It's 7:30 am, it's dark and its unbelievably cold. I don't do mornings or this arctic weather. What does help though on mornings like this is a well made cup of chai - a milky tea infused with mild spices

In an Asian household there is always that one person that won't settle for your boiled water based cuppa, in my house
it's my dear sister in law ( don't tell her I told you !)

As if I didn't love Starbucks enough (sorry Costa but you just don't do it for me) I'm loving that they have their take on our Chai, fortunately for my pocket but not for me * insert sad face here* the nearest Starbucks is Meadowhall and I can't bear to step out my front door and risk getting frostbite in this cold - so my own mug has to be made up.

So to warm yourselves up and save yourselves a few pennies, here's my concoction for chai per person:

• quarter fill your favourite cup or mug with water, place the water in a saucepan with a tea bag and bring to simmering point

•using the same cup pour a cup full of milk  ( full fat ) in the saucepan and keep simmering for about 10 minutes on a low heat

• next add 1 clove, 2 green cardamom pods, (give the pods a slight squeeze with your fingers so they open up a bit) a piece of cinnamon, (about 2cm) or if you've got ground cinnamon lying around a quarter of a tsp will do

• leave to simmer on a low heat till its darkened slightly in colour and its reduced by about half

• use a tea strainer to pour into your cup, that way you won't be having a fight picking the spices out ! So there you have it "one chai latte to go" (said in best barista voice possible)

you can experiment and adjust the spices to your liking.. I love cinnamon so I always add a bit extra. 

You can also use all milk for a full on latte flavour rather than half milk & half water.

For a cheeky treat i love to top it up with squirty cream & dust it with ground cinnamon