Mava/ Mawa Cake - An Indian Cardamom Cake - Version 1
As I have mentioned a couple of times before, baking is traditionally not a part of Indian cooking methods. A history of trade with other countries of the world, foreign invasions, the arrival of Christianity and Islam, and colonization have however, had an effect on the cuisines of various parts of
Ingredients
For the Mava:
- 1 litre milk (I used 2% fat) (3/4 to 1 cup mava)
For the Mava Cake:
- 60 gm butter , at room temperature
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp cardamom powdered
- 1/3 cup milk
- 1 egg
- 10 to 12 cashewnut about unsalted halves
Instructions
- Making Mava: Pour the milk into a deep heavy walled pot/ pan. This is important as the milk needs to cook very slowly. Bring the milk to a boil and then turn down the heat. Allow the milk to simmer and keep stirring frequently until the milk reduces down so that the milk solids are very moist but thereu2019s no visible liquid in the pot/ pan.
- Take it off the fire and allow it to cool. This mava can be refrigerated in an airtight container for about 3 days.
- Mawa cake: Beat the sugar, soft butter and mava till light and fluffy. Add the egg and beat well. Mix together the flour, baking powder and cardamom and add alternately with the milk beating well with each addition till smooth.
- Pour the batter in to a buttered and floured 9u201d cake tin. Sprinkle the cashew halves on top and bake at 180C for about 25 minutes or till the top of the cake is a golden brown and a skewer inserted in the cake comes out clean.
- Allow the cake to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, remove and cool on a rack.
- This cake is very rich and it might be advisable to cut smaller servings than usual.
Notes
For variations of the mava cake, do see Nandita’s eggless mava cake and Vaishali’s vegan version.