Diwali Recipes, Festival Recipes, medium, Sweets, vegetarian

Seven-Cup Cake / Besan-Coconut Burfi

September 14, 2007

Recipe for 7 cup cake – an Indian fudge sweet suitable for any festive occasion

In case you see the picture and wonder why the cupcakes are flat, this is a 7 cup-cake and not 7 cupcakes. These are the ones that my mom, aunts and grandmom turn out into perfect little squares during festivals, in a jiffy. I’m always a bit wary about making them because of too much sugar and ghee and there’s the uncertainty of them turning out properly. These can be made with just milk and sugar – called ‘milk cake‘ or with chickpea flour, sugar and ghee called Mysore Pak, or even with nuts like almonds and cashews. As a child, these were the only cakes that were made at home apart from some failed sponge cake experiments conducted in the pressure cooker. I wanted to recreate some of that childhood magic for the festive season.

Traditional Indian ‘cakes’ need no baking, because they are not actually cakes, but fudgey sweets made using sugar, milk and some other ingredients, a bit of slaving over the stove, some elbow grease – and your ‘cake’ will be ready.

Small pieces of these goodies go a long way in satisfying your sweet tooth. Some of these ‘cakes’ require almost an hour of stirring over a hot stove. This one, on the other hand takes 20 minutes at the most, but the results make people think otherwise. If you need larger quantities, make this in batches, that way you can give your elbow some rest in between batches

Seven cup Cake

Category: Indian sweet, Milk sweet, Festival food

Time taken: Under 30 minutes

Makes: One 9 X 9 sheet 1/2″ thick, can be cut into 25 squares

[wpurp-searchable-recipe] – Tried and tested recipe for 7 cup cake – an Indian fudge sweet made using besan, ghee, coconut and semolina. Perfect for any festive occasion. – besan (gram flour) , ghee, freshly scraped or desiccated coconut, milk, sugar [if your sugar is not as sweet then add 1/4-1/2 cup more] , saffron OR cardamom powder for flavouring, Grease a 9 X 9 baking sheet (or a deep dish) ghee and keep aside.; In a heavy bottomed wok, place 2 tbsp ghee.; Add the cup of besan to this and on a very low flame, roast it till fragrant – say around 4-5 minutes. Keep a close watch and saute constantly so as not to let the gram flour brown or burn.; In a large bowl, mix all the remaining ingredients including flavouring of choice {saffron strands or cardamom.; Once the gram flour is aromatic, tip the contents of the bowl into a wok. Keeping the flame low at all times, constantly keep stirring the contents till reduced to nearly half. For the quantities specified, this takes 15-17 minutes.; At the end of 15 minutes, immediately transfer the contents of the wok onto the greased baking sheet.; Smoothen out the surface with the edge of a flat spatula or by patting under few layers of foil, to make the heat bearable.; Score into squares or diamonds using a pizza cutter /knife.; Cut out when completely cool.; [/wpurp-searchable-recipe]