RAS MALAI CAKE

Ras malai is Bengali for “juice creams”. They are these little bits of cake that bob around in gently spiced milk, like a floating cheesecake thing. This is my version without the floating.

Ingredients For the cake

10 strands of saffron, dropped into 4 tablespoons of warm milk 250g unsalted butter

250g caster sugar

5 medium eggs, beaten 250g self-raising flour

1 tsp 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 3 tablespoons whole milk 300g unsalted butter, softened 600g icing sugar, sifted To decorate

edible rose petals, mixed with 100g chopped pistachios

Method

Preheat the oven to 170°C / fan 150°C. Grease and line two 20-centimetre sandwich tins.

Make the saffron milk. Place the butter and sugar in a bowl and whisk until light and fluffy and almost white. Add the eggs, 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.

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

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

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

Put the butter into a bowl and whisk until soft and light in colour. Add icing sugar a bit at a time, whisking after each addition, until combined. Pour the cardamom milk through a sieve into the buttercream and whisk.

Place one cake on a serving dish and spread buttercream over it. Put the other on top. Flip the cake over so the milk drizzle top becomes the bottom and sandwiches the buttercream. Spread buttercream evenly across the top and sides. Use a ruler to level off the edges.

If you have cream left, pipe little kisses on top. Press the rose petals and pistachios into the bottom edge of the cake.

Recipes from Time to Eat by Nadiya Hussain