STAR BAKER

RAS MALAI CAKE

INGREDIENTS

For the cake: 10 strands of saffron, dropped into 4tbsp of warm milk; 250g unsalted butter; 250g caster sugar; 5 medium eggs, beaten; 250g self-raising flour; 1tsp baking powder For the milk

drizzle: 100g milk powder; 150ml boiling water; Cardamom seeds, removed from the pods and ground For the buttercream:

2 cardamom pods, crushed; 3tbsp whole milk; 300g unsalted butter, softened; 600g icing sugar, sifted To decorate: Edible rose petals, mixed with 100g roughly chopped pistachios

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 170oC/ fan 150oC. Grease and line two 20cm sandwich tins.

2. Make the saffron milk, then place the butter and sugar in a bowl and whisk until light and fluffy. Add the eggs a little at a time, making sure to keep whisking. Then add the flour, baking powder and saffron milk, and fold the mixture until you have a smooth, shiny batter.

3. Divide the mixture between the two tins and level the tops. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

4. Meanwhile, make the milk drizzle by mixing the milk powder with the boiling water in a bowl. Add the ground cardamom seeds and mix. As soon as the cakes are out of the oven, drizzle some of the milk all over the top of both cakes and leave in the tin for at least 10 minutes before turning them out and removing them to cool on a rack.

5. To make the buttercream, put the crushed cardamom pods in a small bowl of the milk and leave to infuse.

6. Meanwhile, put the butter into a mixing bowl and whisk until very soft and light in colour. Add the icing sugar a little at a time, whisking after each addition, until all combined. Then pour the cardamom milk through a sieve into the buttercream and whisk until light and fluffy.

7. Once the cakes are totally cool, place one cake on your serving dish and spread an even layer of buttercream over it. Put the other cake on top. Flip the cake over so the milk drizzle top becomes the bottom and sandwiches the buttercream. Spread some buttercream evenly across the top and the sides and use a ruler to level off the edges.

8. If you have any cream left over you can pipe little kisses on top. Then gently take the rose petals and pistachios and press them into the bottom edge of the cake.