A CREAMY LAYER CAKE INSPIRED BY INDIA

Turning a dumpling dessert of cardamom and pistachios into a sponge and cheese sensation was a test of creativity

Ever since we were in high school, my friend Zoe and I have had a very special birthday tradition. A world traveller, she always finds some perfect article of clothing for me on her trips, be it a vintage purse at a flea market in Germany or a handmade alpaca wool poncho from Peru.

In return, I try to bake her something I’ve invented just for her. When I was a teenager, that meant butterscotch-chip snickerdoodles. Nowadays I get more elaborate, like the four-layer cake based on the Indian cheese dumpling dessert called ras malai.

This was her idea, sort of. After declaring ras malai to be her favourite sweet of all time, she asked if I could whip up a batch for her birthday party.

The recipe calls for making homemade soft cheese, poaching patties of it in sugar syrup, then floating them in cardamom-scented milk syrup and garnishing it all with chopped pistachios. It wasn’t hard, but it was something I had never done before, and I wasn’t keen on trying it for the first time for a group of 12. So instead, I adapted the elements to a layer cake, which fell more squarely in my comfort zone.

I started with the lightest, whitest cake, made with all egg whites and no yolks for supreme fluffiness. It acted as a sponge for the milk syrup, made by simmering down whole milk, cardamom pods and sugar until the mixture thickened, then spiking it with rose water. In addition to adding flavour and sweetness, the milk syrup helped preserve the cake layers and keep them moist, so I could make them a couple of days ahead.

As for the fresh cheese filling, I bought high-quality ricotta instead of making my own chenna. Then I beat the curds with sugar until everything was perfectly silky smooth.

For the frosting, I riffed on a cream-cheese buttercream using mascarpone, which is more delicate and better able to highlight all the rose water and cardamom.

Then finally, for both colour and a bit of crunch, I sprinkled the top of the cake with chopped pistachios and candied rose petals. It was a creamy beauty adorned in shades of pink and green, almost like the paisley blouse she once found for me in Marseille.

Although layer cakes are most closely associated with birthdays, this cloudlike confection would be fitting at any festive gathering. Which makes it ideal for the holidays — or anytime you want to treat the special people in your life.