So last week I shared with you a lesser known, but extremely yummy recipe for a biscuit found in the Pune-Mumbai region – Shrewsbury Biscuits. If you haven’t seen that yet, go check it out, I’ll still be here when you get back.
Okay, so you’re back. Today, is the turn for another lesser known recipe, this time for a cake called Mawa Cake. Again, as far as I know this cake is found in the Pune-Mumbai region. Kayani Bakery in Pune and Merwan’s Cake shop in Mumbai are popular for their Mawa cake, though you will find quite a few other shops selling this cake. They are usually sold in packs of 6 – 6 muffin sized pieces. This simple cake is so very special. It is not much to look at, but what it lacks in looks, it makes up for in taste. If you’ve never heard about this cake before, you should put it on your list of recipes to try out. Mawa is nothing but milk solids and this is widely used in a lot of Indian sweets.
A lot of people cringe at the thought of making their own mawa and just buy it from the local Dairy shop in India. This is because, while it is a simple process of reducing milk, working with about a litre of milk could take you about an hour to process. In the past, I have made Mawa the traditional way a couple of times. But for this cake, I decided to try out a cheat’s version of Mawa. This method takes literally 2 minutes at the most, and you would never be able to tell that it is an instant version. I’m so happy that I found this method. I have a whole bunch of recipes for Indian sweets that I’ve been ignoring, simply because it calls for Mawa. But that has changed, so you can expect to see some more Indian sweets / Mithai recipes, just before the Indian festival season starts.
Back to the cake. If you have your Mawa sorted out, the rest of the recipe is like a simple pound cake one but with a serious flavor profile. The Mawa adds a richness to the cake and it is mildly flavored with cardamom powder, resulting in a very exotic tasting cake. This time around my husband made the cake, which I guess made it even tastier (lol). He chose to bake this in an 8″ round cake tin, but you could bake it in a cupcake tray too. I do hope you try it out.
Mawa Cake
Yields: an 8 inch cake or 15-16 cupcakes
1 portion of homemade mawa (recipe below) or 200g unsweetened mawa
200g all purpose flour
300g sugar
200g butter
4 eggs
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cardamom powder (Seeds of about 10-12 green cardamom pods, powdered)
Preheat the oven to 160ºC.
Grease and line an 8-Inch Round Cake Pan
Separate the egg yolks from the whites. Beat the whites to a stiff froth and keep aside.
In another bowl, cream the butter, sugar and egg yolks till light and creamy.
Add the mawa, cardamom powder, baking powder and flour and mix till well incorporated. (If the mawa in store bought or is a firm block, grate it before adding into the batter)
Fold in the beaten egg whites gently till just evenly incorporated in the batter.
Pour the batter in the prepared cake pan and bake for about 40-50 minutes (if using a cupcake tray, bake for 15-20 minutes) or till a bamboo skewer inserted near the middle of the cake come out clean.
Cool completely, cut and serve. Don’t get fooled by the look of the cake. It tastes a whole lot better than it looks. And don’t forget, if my husband (who has probably not baked more than a handful of times so far), can whip this up, so can you.
Enjoy!!!
How to make Instant Mawa?
1 tbsp ghee / clarified butter
1/4 cup milk
1 cup full fat milk powder
Warm the ghee and the milk together. You just want this mixture warm, not hot.
Add the milk powder and stir and cook till it comes apart from the pan and starts forming a ball.
Use to make mawa cake.
Notes: If you are baking the cake in a regular cake tin and not a cupcake tray, in some cases, the milk solids may cause the cake to brown quickly. This is normal, but if you think it is browning too fast and may burn, cover the tin loosely with aluminium foil and continue baking till the cake is done.
This sounds so interesting. I have never heard of mawa, but the recipe looks so easy, and I have some ghee! Must try!
I hope you enjoy it as much as we do Karen 🙂
Thanks so much for stopping by and linking this to First Monday Favorites. I'd never heard of Mawa cake and now I think I need to make some. I love cardamom anyway and always have it on hand.
If you love cardamom, you will love this cake. Thanks for stopping by Sid.
I am definitely going to make this. Now is best time to try in lockdown.
Please can you email me an let me know the temperature of the electric oven. Will send my comments after baking
Much appreciated
Hi Hira, the oven temperature needs to be 160 degrees. I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do 🙂
I have never heard of Mawa but I'm in love with anything cardamom so I'm going to hit our specialty shop next time I'm down in the City and see if I can locate some premade mawa. Thanks.
Well cardamom lovers will definitely enjoy this cake 🙂 I find that premade mawa can be expensive in some places and is not always easy to find. The recipe for the mawa takes less than 5 minutes to put together – if that helps.
Wow, what a terrific cake. Also not heard of Mawa before. Am definitely going to make this
Thank you 🙂 I hope you do try it. It is one of our favorites.
I loved this one..But can it be made eggless?? If so, then what changes need to be made?
Hi Nancy. I haven't tried an eggless version yet, but I will try one soon.
I used to go all the way to merwans andheri (mumbai) only to get mava cakes.u r awesome. Your receipes are great. YThan you so much
Thank you so much for your feedback 🙂
I am definitely going to make this. Now is best time to try in lockdown.
Please can you email me an let me know the temperature of the electric oven. Will send my comments after baking
Much appreciated
Hira
I used to go all the way to merwans andheri (mumbai) only to get mava cakes.u r awesome. Your receipes are great. YThan you so much
Thank you so much.
Thank you – came out perfectly!
I’m glad you enjoyed it Chitra. Thank you for your feedback.
I had to bake my cupcake for 35 mins and the mawa was not mixed well :(.
But they were not too bad 🙂
Hi Poonam, every oven differs in heating, so the time taken could differ. Did you use store bought mawa or homemade?
Please tell me which milk powder you used for the mawa.
I believe it was the local Coles store brand. You can use any full fat milk powder that is available to you.
The cake was just so delicious….your instructions were followed to the T.Thanks so much…
Thank you for your feedback Annette. I’m so glad you liked it.