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rasmalai cake in plate
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Eggless Rasmalai Cake

This eggless rasmalai cake made in the instant pot is soft and spongy. Drizzle some rabri (a thick, sweet sauce) over it and top with nuts and powdered cardamom, and you have a decadent desi dessert ready to impress your guests with!
Course Dessert
Cuisine Indian
Keyword instant pot cake, malai cake, rasmalai cake
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes
Servings 8 slices
Calories 369kcal

Equipment

  • A medium sized Pyrex bowl
  • A 7" cake tin or bowl to fit inside the Instant Pot
  • Trivet
  • 6-quart Instant Pot Duo
  • Saucepan

Ingredients

Cake Ingredients

  • 5 tablespoon yogurt
  • ½ cup powdered white sugar
  • cup cooking oil
  • ½ cup all-purpose flour maida
  • ½ cup milk
  • ½ cup semolina sooji
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda

Sauce Ingredients

  • 4 cups milk
  • teaspoon yellow food color or 8-10 strands saffron dissolved in 2 tablespoon warm milk
  • ½ cup white sugar
  • ½ teaspoon powdered cardamom
  • ½ cup half and half cream
  • 15 raw almonds soaked, skinned and chopped

Instructions

Making the cake

  • Put the yogurt and sugar into a bowl and whisk until the yogurt is smooth.
  • Add the cooking oil and all-purpose flour and mix them in, one after the other.
  • Add the milk and semolina and mix them in, one after the other. 
  • Add the vanilla essence, baking powder and baking soda and use the whisk one last time to mix these in. 
  • Grease a cake tin or a sturdy pyrex bowl that will fit inside your instant pot and pour the cake batter in it. Cover the bowl with aluminum foil.
  • Pour one and a half cups water in the steel insert of your instant pot and keep a trivet in it. Lower the foil-covered bowl of cake batter into the pot.
  • Secure the lid and make sure the steam release handle is sealed. Press the 'steam' button on high. Set the timer to 45 minutes. 
  • After the timer beeps, wait for 10 minutes, then release the remaining steam and open the pot. Remove the bowl carefully and let it cool down on your countertop. 
  • Release the sides of the cake with a blunt knife and invert the bowl onto a plate. The cake should slide off easily if you had greased the bowl earlier. It is not ready for the sauce. 

Making the sauce

  • While the cake is steaming in the instant pot, pour the milk in a saucepan, and let it come to a boil on your stovetop.
  • Add the food color or saffron strands if using, sugar, and half of the powdered cardamom. Lower the heat to medium and simmer until the quantity has reduced a little. Keep stirring the milk so that it doesn't boil over. 
  • Take out half the milk in a small jug and keep it aside. This first sauce will be used to pour over the cake first. 
  • Add the half and half cream to the rest of the milk and continue simmering it until the milk thickens. The consistency should be like that of condensed milk. This is the second sauce or rabri.

Assembling the rasmalai cake 

  • Poke the cake all over with a fork and pour the first sauce you prepared in step 3 all over it. Give it a few minutes to get absorbed into the cake.
  • Now pour the second sauce over the cake as well. 
  • Top with the remaining powdered cardamom and almonds. Cut into slices and serve warm.

Notes

  1. You can use any neutral cooking oil like sunflower or canola in this recipe. 
  2. To make the cardamom powder, put about a teaspoon of cardamom seeds in a mortar and pestle and grind to get a semi-rough powder. 
  3. Soak the almonds in water for 4-5 hours. Slide off the skins and chop. 
  4. If you like, you can add slivered pistachios and cashews as well.
  5. Alternative to making the sauce from scratch - warm ½ can evaporated milk  in a saucepan and add ½ can condensed milk, food color/saffron, and powdered cardamom. Stir well and pour over the cake while it is still warm.  
  6. It's best to serve the cake warm as the sauce tends to become too sludgy when cold.
  7. To store, keep in the refrigerator, covered, and simply reheat in the microwave for a few seconds to serve again.  

Nutrition

Serving: 1thick slice | Calories: 369kcal | Carbohydrates: 47g | Protein: 8g | Fat: 17g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 8g | Cholesterol: 21mg | Sodium: 193mg | Potassium: 263mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 33g | Vitamin A: 288IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 224mg | Iron: 1mg