I almost lost my marbles trying to perfect this recipe for homemade ladyfingers and after many attempts, the result is beautifully-light, spongy and perfect for soaking up espresso.

My Eggless Ladyfinger journey

You know how people say, “Third time lucky”? Well for me, this Homemade Eggless Ladyfingers recipe was more of a ninth-time lucky project!

To achieve a perfectly light egg-free ladyfinger (savoiardi) requires both the sponge to be lower in fat than a traditional cake, yet still moist enough to rise adequately in the oven.

After what’s felt like a mammoth task, I present you with my perfectly-delicious Eggless Ladyfinger recipe. They drink up espresso like no man’s business and remain super light inside our favourite desserts.

While they may no be piped into oblong “fingers” like their traditional eggy counterparts, I guarantee you’ll never know the difference when you eat your dessert. Neither will your friends and family.

Here’s how I make them.

How to make Eggless Ladyfingers (Savoiardi)

1. Mix up the batter for the Eggless Ladyfingers

With the combination of self-raising flour, potato starch and DIY buttermilk, our egg-free savoiardi will have both the lightness and sponginess of shop-bought ladyfingers.

2. Pour and bake

Spread the batter quite thinly onto a lined baking tin. It will seem like there’s no enough batter but it will rise to double the height in the oven. Be sure to use the correct size tin.

See notes in the recipe card below for tin dimensions.

3. Top with sugar

Like any good shop-bought ladyfingers, our sponge must have a crunchy sugar top. Only scatter the sponge with sugar once it’s cooled a little or the sugar will start to melt. I speak from experience!

Allow the eggless sponge fingers to cool

Be patient, this could take about an hour.

4. Cut and dry

No, I’m not talking about what you ask for at the hairdressers. Carefully lift the sponge out of the tin and cut it into rectangles (approx. 2.5cm x 8.5cm).

Okay, so this isn’t the typical shape of ladyfingers you buy from the shop but hey, this is homemade. Also, nobody will even see the shape once you blanket them in mascarpone cream and cocoa powder.

Gently peel the cut eggless ladyfingers from the baking parchment and lay them on a wire rack.

Now leave them there, uncovered for 24 hours. Yep, a whole day.

This last step is a crucial step in making good Eggless Ladyfingers that soak up lots of espresso! We want them to become stale and hard so they keep their shape and drink in all those delicious coffee flavours.

Video: Learn how to make amazing Eggless Tiramisu from scratch

How to make Eggless Tiramisu with Mascarpone

1. Make the eggless ladyfingers. Don’t forget the wait 24 hours after they’re cut. The drying time is essential!
2. Pour some strong espresso. I use instant Arabica coffee granules and boiling water. You can add some booze if you like. Allow to cool.
3. Whip up the mascarpone and sweetened condensed milk. Fold in whipped cream.
4. Dunk the dry eggless ladyfingers in the cold espresso and arrange them in a dish.
5. Top with mascarpone cream and a flurry of cocoa powder and cinnamon.
6. Repeat!
7. Pipe the final third of mascarpone cream on top. This is totally optional. Just spread it if you want something simpler.

8. Dust with more cocoa and cinnamon.

9. Cover and chill in the fridge for 24, 48, 72 hours… whatever. The longer the better. It keeps well in the fridge for up to a week.

Can I add alcohol to this Eggless Tiramisu with Homemade Ladyfingers?

Be my guest! I normally would but not everyone in my family drinks so I thought I’d give it a miss this time.

If you like your eggless tiramisu boozy, add 3-4 tablespoons of marsala, Bailey’s, dark rum or whiskey to the cold espresso.

Can I make this Tiramisu in advance?

Yes! Please do. It tastes so much better after 72 hours in the fridge. 24-48 hours ahead of time are also fine. It will last for a week in the fridge (covered) since there are no raw eggs in the recipe.

Can I skip the cinnamon?

You sure can. If cinnamon isn’t your thing, just leave it out of the cocoa mixture. I do recommend using the best-quality cocoa powder you can afford. In this recipe, I’m using this Valrhona Cacao Powder.

Why do you use potato starch in the Eggless Ladyfingers recipe?

For a much lighter sponge. Too much and the sponge will turn gummy so be sure to weigh your ingredients with precision.

I have tried the recipe with cornstarch but find potato starch produces a better texture.

Shop my Eggless Tiramisu essentials!

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Eggless Tiramisu with Homemade Ladyfingers (+ Video) recipe

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Eggless Tiramisu with Homemade Ladyfingers (+ Video)

A creamy, dreamy eggless Tiramisu recipe. Make your own spongy ladyfingers with my easy step-by-step video. No eggs required!

Course Dessert

Cuisine Italian

Keyword christmas, coffee, dessert, dinner party, eggless, pudding

Prep Time 1 hour hour 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour 40 minutes minutes

Servings 12

Author Sanjana

Equipment

• 20 x 3.5 x 31.5 cm cake tin or traybake tin
• Deep ceramic or glass dish

Ingredients

For the sponge layer:

• 280 g self-raising flour
• 180 g caster sugar + 4 tbsp
• 330 ml full-fat milk at room temperature
• 2 tsp white vinegar or apple cider vinegar
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract not vanilla essence
• 30 g potato starch
• 70 ml any flavourless oil
• 1/4 tsp salt

For the coffee:

• 20 g instant Arabica coffee
• 650 ml boiling hot water

You will also need:

• 500 g mascarpone
• 600 g double cream divided
• 200 g sweetened condensed milk
• 1 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon

Instructions

To make the eggless ladyfingers:

• Pre-heat the oven to 175°C/350°F. Line a baking tray with baking parchment, leaving a 3cm overhang at the longest sides for easy removal from the tin later.
• Sift together the flour, 180g caster sugar, potato starch and salt.
• In a jug, whisk together the milk and apple cider vinegar. Set aside for 10 minutes. Once it looks like its curdled a little, add the vanilla extract and oil. Whisk briefly.
• Pour the wet ingredients into the sifted dry ingredients and whisk until smooth, about 90 seconds. It should be of a flowing, ribbon consistency.
• Immediately pour HALF of the batter into the lined tin and spread it out using a spatula. Rasp the tin on the counter top a dozen times to encourage any air bubbles to rise to the surface. This will give you a more even bake.
• Bake the sponge in the preheated oven for 15 minutes. It should be springy to the touch and slightly golden on top.
• Remove the sponge from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes. After this time, scatter 4 tbsp caster sugar over the top and give the pan a gentle shake to distribute it evenly. The surface of the sponge should look beautifully frosty. Carefully lift the sponge from the tin.
• Repeat the same baking steps above to bake the second half of the batter.
• Once both sponges have cooled, slice them into rectangles, about 2.5cm x 8.5cm. Carefully peel the sponge fingers away from the baking parchment and set them on a wire rack. Leave them out at room temperature, uncovered for 24 hours. Do not skip this step. The air-drying ensures the sponge fingers become dry enough to dip into the coffee without breaking.

To make the espresso:

• Mix together the instant coffee and boiling water. Allow to cool completely. Now is the time to add any alcohol if you like. I kept mine alcohol free.

To make the mascarpone cream:

• In a bowl, mix together the mascarpone and sweetened condensed milk. Once combined, whisk until smooth.
• In a separate bowl, whisk the double cream until it produces soft peaks. Don't overwhip.
• A little at a time, fold the whipped cream into the mascarpone mixture. The finished mascarpone cream should be smooth and able to hold a peak.
• In a small bowl, mix together the cocoa powder and cinnamon.

To assemble to tiramisu:

• Take a large glass or ceramic dish. Dip the now stale ladyfingers in the cold coffee until soaked, about 5-6 seconds and then arrange in the base of the dish. Top with 1/3 of the mascarpone cream and spread out into an even layer.
• Use a tea strainer to sift half of the cocoa powder and cinnamon mixture on top of the mascarpone cream.
• Repeat the sponge finger and espresso layering process. You can plug any gaps with broken sponge fingers to fit. Top with another 1/3 of the mascarpone cream.
• Place the remaining mascarpone cream in a piping bag fitted with a large, round nozzle. Pipe little blobs of cream on the top of the tiramisu for a pretty finish. Sift the remaining cocoa powder and cinnamon mixture over the top of the tiramisu.
• Cover the dish, taking care not to smudge the top. Refrigerate the tiramisu for at least 24 hours (or up to 72 hours) before serving.

Video

Notes

• Since this tiramisu is eggless, it will keep well in the fridge for up to a week.
• Freeze any leftover tiramisu in freezer-safe containers for up to 3 months. Defrost at room temperature and consume within 24 hours. Do not re-freeze.
• If you don’t want to pipe a design on top of the tiramisu, divide the mascarpone in half rather than thirds. Use half in the first layer and half on top.
• Decaf coffee can be used in place of regular coffee.
• Cinnamon is optional. Leave it out if you don’t like it.
• If you like your eggless tiramisu boozy, add 2-3 tablespoons of marsala, Bailey’s, dark rum or whiskey to the cold espresso.
• This recipe makes approx. 52 ladyfingers/sponge fingers.

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If you like this, you’ll love my recipe for Roasted Vegetable & Mascarpone Lasagne

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Love Sanjana

The post Eggless Tiramisu with Homemade Ladyfingers (+ Video) appeared first on Sanjana.Feasts.

I think this cake is my spirit animal.

What are Gulab Jamuns?

If you’ve never had them, traditional Gulab Jamuns are basically doughnut holes on crack. They get their signature burnished bronze exterior from a high milk solids content that caramelises as it fries.

Yes, like any dessert worth its salt (or should that be sugar?), Gulab Jamuns are deep fried before being dunked in a bath of rose-scented syrup.

Here’s my mum’s annual batch of Gulab Jamuns for the Hindu festival, Diwali. They’re amazing and she is the master!

When do people eat them?

They’re the original “golden balls” (sorry Mr. Beckham) and an iconic dessert at weddings. No religious festival would be complete without a bowl of a hundred sticky Gulab Jamuns either.

Sweet memories

As a child, I would snaffle down a minimum of three at any sitting. Each jamun is basically a carrier for an outrageous volume of rosy-cardamom syrup.

For the uninitiated, they can cause quite the sugar rush. Some go a step further and serve them warm with ice cream. Too far?

Sadly, I no longer have the metabolism of an eight-year, but I do need my Gulab Jamun fix once in a while.

Gulab Jamuns, reinvented: The Eggless Gulab Jamun Cake

Enter, the Gulab Jamun Cake. This is one recipe I’ve gently modified to preserve all the things I love about the original dish.

Ultimately, the cake has all the treasured flavours of classic Gulab Jamun without the deep frying or long soak in sugar syrup. What’s not to love?

How can this Gulab Jamun Cake be Eggless?

Yes, my recipe is made without eggs so is suitable for lacto vegetarians or anyone with an egg allergy.

Is this Gulab Jamun Cake vegan?

No. I developed my recipe to pay homage to the rich, milky flavour of traditional Gulab Jamun. I use full-fat milk powder to enrich the cake batter with a subtle creaminess reminiscent of the Gulab Jamuns I ate growing up.

A note on milk powder

Classic Gulab Jamun recipes feature grated milk solids (mawa). Having said this, milk powder is a more readily-available substitute. It works beautifully in this recipe. If you’d like to have a go at making a vegan version, you can try swapping this for soy milk powder, for example.

How to serve Eggless Gulab Jamun Cake

Ultimately, you want to serve it with ice cream for a truly royal pudding. You could also enjoy a naked piece with masala chai.

Ingredients you’ll need to make this Gulab Jamun Cake

Here’s a list of ingredients you need to make this recipe. You can find exact measurements in the printable recipe card below.

• Plain flour (all-purpose flour or maida)
• Coarse semolina
• Caster sugar
• Full-fat milk powder (whole milk powder)
• Cornflour (cornstarch)
• Baking powder
• Baking soda (bicarbonate of soda)
• Fine salt (table salt)
• Full-fat milk (whole milk)
• Lemon juice
• Rosewater
• Almond oil (or any flavourless oil of your choice)
• Saffron strands
• Green cardamom pods
• Water
• Dried petals and/or rosebuds (optional)
• Slivered or chopped pistachios

How to make Gulab Jamun Cake

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Eggless Gulab Jamun Cake

This simple, yet beautiful cake sees the queen of Indian sweets transformed into an easy-to-make dessert. Rose, cardamom and saffron give the syrup-glazed sponge its iconic “gulab jamun” flavour. Serve it with ice cream for a truly royal pudding, or enjoy a piece with masala chai.

Course Dessert

Cuisine Indian

Keyword baking, cake, eggless, gulab jamun

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 1 hour hour

Total Time 1 hour hour 30 minutes minutes

Servings 12

Equipment

• 18cm Dia. x 8.5cm small ring cake/bundt tin
• Sugar thermometer/candy thermometer

Ingredients

For the cake:

• 250 g plain flour
• 40 g full-fat milk powder
• 50 g coarse semolina
• 20 g cornflour
• 125 g caster sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp fine salt
• 420 ml whole milk room temperature
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp rosewater (I used Nielsen-Massey)
• 125 ml any flavourless oil of your choice
• 8-10 saffron strands
• 4 cardamom pods seeds removed and crushed

For the syrup:

• 80 g sugar
• 50 ml water
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp rosewater
• 8-10 saffron strands
• 2 cardamom pods seeds removed and crushed

To grease the cake tin:

• 1 tsp any flavourless oil of your choice
• 1 tbsp plain flour

To decorate:

• Dried rose petals/rosebuds
• Slivered or chopped pistachios

Instructions

For the sponge:

• Pre-heat the oven to 160°C/320°F. Grease the cake tin with 1 tsp oil and dust with 1 tbsp plain flour. Set aside.
• In a jug, mix together the whole milk and lemon juice. Set aside for 10 minutes until slightly thickened. Whisk in the oil and rosewater.
• In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, milk powder, semolina, cornflour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cardamom and saffron.
• Gradually whisk in the milk mixture and beat briefly until smooth, about a minute. Don't overwork the batter but be sure to get all the lumps out.
• Pour the cake batter into the greased and floured tin. Bang the tin on the work top 3-4 times to remove any unwanted air bubbles.
• Bake for 55-60 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean. Do not open the oven door in the first 40 minutes of cooking. This can cause the cake to collapse.
• Remove the cake from the oven and allow to cool for 15 minutes. Invert the cake onto a wire rack. It should come away from the tin easily since it was greased and floured. You might need to give it a gentle wiggle. Allow to cool slightly while you prepare the sugar syrup.

For the sugar syrup:

• In a small saucepan, mix together the sugar, water, lemon juice, rosewater, cardamom and saffron. Bring to the boil and simmer until it reaches 104°C (119°F) on a sugar/candy thermometer. It should be ever so slightly sticky. The lemon juice will stop the syrup crystallising.
• Set the warm cake (on the wire rack) over a roasting tray or oven tray to catch the excess syrup as it falls. You may need to set this over a heatproof mat to protect your work surface. Carefully drizzle the syrup over the cake. Repeat, transferring the cake to another roasting tray or oven tray and drizzle over the syrup from the first tin. Keep doing this until all the syrup is used up. I repeated this step 4-5 times.
• Decorate with pistachios. Allow the cake to cool completely at room temperature.
• Optional: Fill the centre of the bundt with dried rose petals and rosebuds for a show-stopping finish. Slice and serve.

Notes

• Leftover cake can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 48 hours.
• Refrigerating the Gulab Jamun Cake will cause it to harden and dry out.
• Serve the cake as it is, with masala chai or warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
• This cake can be baked into cupcakes. It will make around 18 small cupcakes. Bake at 175°C/350°F for 18-20 minutes. The tops will turn slightly golden.
• You can also bake this cake in a 25cm x 4cm (10-inch x 1.5-inch) round cake tin. Bake at 160°C/320°F for 45-50 minutes.

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Finally, if you like this cake, you’ll love these Rum-Soaked Kala Jamun

Love Sanjana

The post Eggless Gulab Jamun Cake appeared first on Sanjana.Feasts.

It all starts with a freshly-made batch of masala coffee — let’s be honest, every great moment starts (and ends) with a hot drink, right? The warmth of the cup around clasped hands, inhaling steamy aromas and waiting for it to cool just enough so we can take a sip gives us time to chat with a friend or quietly contemplate alone. It soothes the soul and allows us to stop and do nothing for a moment during our busy days. Having a hot drink is like having a spa treatment for the soul.

Whenever I feel burned out, I rely on a cup of masala coffee with my mum to lift my mood. She makes it milky and sweet, with just the right amount of spice to compliment the aroma of good coffee. It’s made in a pan on the stove, like all good masala coffee and chai should be made. We boil it low and slow for at least 15 minutes for a truly authentic Indian taste. We’ll sit, chat, snack and laugh, melting away my stresses and brightening up my day.

This cake is inspired by those moments.

Be still my beating heart

My version of New Jersey crumb cake has extra-thick cinnamon sugar crumb topping, so the ratio of crumb to cake is almost 1:1. It gives you the best of both worlds when you can’t decide whether to have cake or biscuits with your cup of coffee. The sponge cake is rises perfectly and is full of rich coffee and spices. You won’t miss the dairy or eggs in this recipe, I promise you.

The spice blend: Vegan Masala Coffee Crumb Cake

My spice blend is very typical of what is traditionally added to boiling milk to make masala chai or coffee. Cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, black peppercorns, cloves and nutmeg all combine with espresso powder. This makes each slice truly taste like a cup of masala coffee. It’s not too sweet and the flurry of icing sugar on top is absolutely necessary. This balances out the flavours and create the perfect look of a milky cup of coffee. As a result the cake is as delicious as it is messy to eat.

Make this if you’re in need of a grown-up tasting cake to share with friends. Or enjoy in the comfort of your own company, you know, whatever. It freezes beautifully so you can also stow away portions to eat later.

Customise this Vegan Masala Coffee Crumb Cake

• Transform this cake into a chocolate dream! Simply replace 50g of the flour in the sponge recipe with 50g good-quality cocoa powder.
• Add 50g mini vegan chocolate chips to the crumb topping for a cookie dough-inspired finish. Or turn this into a masala chai cake. Swap the espresso powder for 25g black tea leaves — be sure to strain the soy milk before using.
• If you have pre-made chai masala, swap the individual spices in the sponge recipe for 1 tablespoon of pre-made masala.
• Alternatively, you could also use 1 tablespoon of your favourite gingerbread or pumpkin spice mix.

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Vegan Masala Coffee Crumb Cake

Piled high with cinnamon crumble, this masala coffee-spiced cake truly tastes like a cup of Indian masala coffee.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American, Indian

Keyword cake, coffee, vegan

Prep Time 35 minutes minutes

Cook Time 1 hour hour 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 2 hours hours 5 minutes minutes

Servings 16

Author Sanjana

Ingredients

For the crumb topping:

• 225 g plain flour
• 125 g soft light brown sugar
• 85 g caster sugar
• 100 g vegan butter melted and warm
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp fine salt

For the sponge:

• 225 g sponge flour/cake flour
• 160 g caster sugar
• 1 tbsp cornflour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 3 tbsp instant espresso powder (if using granules, crush to a powder before using)
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground cardamom
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• 1/8 tsp ground cloves
• 1/8 tsp ground black pepper
• 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp fine salt
• 100 g vegan butter melted and warm
• 300 ml soy milk
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar

You will also need:

• 60 g icing sugar for dusting

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 160°C/320°F. Grease and line a 20-cm/8-inch round, 7-cm/3-inch deep springform or loose-bottomed tin with baking parchment.

For the crumb topping:

• Place both sugars and the melted vegan butter in a bowl. Stir well until smooth, about a minute. Add the flour and ground cinnamon. Use your fingers to rub the vegan butter and flour together until you have a coarse and pebbly mixture like if you were making a fruit crumble topping. Set aside at room temperature.

For the sponge:

• To make the cake, whisk together the flour, sugar, cornflour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, espresso powder and ground spices in a large bowl. Add the melted vegan butter and again, rub the dry ingredients with the butter to form a coarse, breadcrumb-like texture.
• Add in the soy milk and whisk well until smooth. Finally, add the apple cider vinegar and whisk well one last time.
• Pour the cake mix into the tin and top with the prepared crumb topping, starting at the edges and working your way to the centre to prevent it sinking in too much.
• Bake in the middle shelf of a preheated oven for 75 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.
• Allow to cool in the tin. Run a knife around the outside of the tin before releasing. Sift lots of icing sugar over the top and serve with your favourite hot drink.

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Psst… if you like this Vegan Masala Coffee Crumb Cake, you’ll LOVE these Baked Vegan Vanilla Doughnuts.

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Today is my 30th birthday and I’ve been sharing recipes here for 10 years. Can you believe it?! With each year, I’ve grown as a person, learning more about myself than I ever thought I would through a medium as lighthearted as a recipe blog. Exploring my cultural heritage through food has helped me get to grips with my own personal identity. With this I’ve understood and embraced what “home” really means to me. It’s where my family are; My husband, my son, my parents, my brother and sister-in-law, and their children, all sitting around a dinner table eating great food and just being… well, a family.

Many of you know that I was born in Britain, the daughter of immigrants with Indian and East African roots. I was raised as a vegetarian Hindu so the food I ate growing up was a mishmash of spices, starches, vegetables and pulses. Learning to cook from my mum and her haul of Gujarati and Swahili cookbooks was both a pleasure and a privilege. I’m so glad I was able to extract happiness from those things early on because if I didn’t, I wouldn’t be able to share so many of my favourite recipes with you all today.

I feel honoured to be connected with so many fans and readers. Together we are a community of 60,000 people from around the world across social media, each of us passionate about vegetarian Indian and East African food. Whether it’s a comfort classic or a modern take on an old favourite, we all appreciate a plate of food cooked with love. I hope to continue to grow, learn, explore and share recipes with you for years to come.

Being an oversharer, you probably know a tonne about me, but for a bit of fun, here are a few things you may not have known…

1. I’ve never been to India, yet Indian food is one of my biggest passions in life.
2. I’m a pyjama-holic. I’d live in loungewear if I could. Don’t let styled food and good photography fool you. Developing recipes and spending a lot of time covered in flour means that fancy clothes are off the cards and comfy joggers and vest tops are the norm. After a hard day’s work I’ll have butter in my hair, icing sugar on my top and and a smile on my face. An Insta-perfect life doesn’t exist and in today’s world of social media overload it’s important we don’t measure ourselves against someone else’s online persona – most of it is make believe anyway!
3. I’m an avid and life-long wrestling fan. But we’ll leave that story for another day.

Now let’s eat Birthday Cake Burfi and celebrate this old gal’s 30th.

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Birthday Cake Burfi

Sweet condensed milk fudge with a hidden layer of birthday cake and sprinkles!

Course Dessert

Cuisine Indian

Keyword birthday, burfi, cake, fudge, indian sweets

Prep Time 40 minutes minutes

Total Time 40 minutes minutes

Servings 30

Author Sanjana

Ingredients

• 400 g full-fat milk powder
• 200 ml double cream
• 2 x 397g tins sweetened condensed milk
• 3 eggless birthday cupcakes not frosted (recipe is on the blog)
• 150 g white chocolate to decorate
• 2 tbsp sprinkles to decorate

Instructions

• Crumble up the birthday cake cupcakes with clean hands, making sure you have fine crumbs. Don’t use a food processor for this and ensure the cupcakes are have been allowed to cool completely. I like to make the cupcakes the day before so they’re completely cool and ready to crumble.

To make the burfi:

• Combine the milk powder, cream and condensed milk in a pan. Cook on a low heat, stirring all the time until the mixture starts exuding oil and begins to come away from the sides of the pan. If you have a sugar thermometer, the mixture should reach 116°C (this is known as the soft ball stage). Keep stirring to ensure the mixture doesn’t burn as it can catch quite easily. Don’t worry if you do not have a sugar thermometer. You can check it’s ready by first spreading a little mixture on a cold plate and if you can roll it into a soft ball between your thumb and finger, it’s ready. Time to work quickly!
• Remove from the heat and spread half of the mixture inside the greased brownie tin. Even the mixture out with the help of a spatula. Top with the birthday cake crumbs immediately, making the layer as even as possible. Top with the rest of the Burfi mixture and again, use a spatula to even it out. You need to make quick work of this to ensure the Burfi mixture is still hot when you’re spreading it. You don’t want it to start setting or it will be hard to work with.
• Melt the chocolate in a glass bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Ensure the bowl isn’t touching the water. Pour the chocolate over the Burfi layer and spread it out evenly. Scatter with sprinkles and allow to sit at room temperature until set, about 8 hours or preferably overnight. Slice into squares and serve.

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Sometimes I find myself having conversations with Baa and Bapuji, Nanabapu and Nanima in my head. Call me crazy but I’m quite sure that my Nanima (who passed away when my mum was just seven) is my spirit guide. She pushes me to get stuff done, tells me not to overthink when I’m stressed and that I should always strive to be like my mum… resilient. I update them all on my ambitions and like most grandparents, they’re supportive, practical and full of sound advice. To me they’re here, even though the things I hear back when I share my thoughts with them is “all me”, if you know what I mean.

In six weeks I get to see my oldest friend from school get married. We grew up in the same town, went to the same college and did everything together. She used to make me the most gorgeous birthday cards and presents and today she’s an incredibly talented, award-winning artist. Back in the day I used to cook during school holidays so I could get her opinion on my latest edible creations and now I produce content at Food Network. Today, some 20 years later I get to bake her a wedding cake, as well as be her bridesmaid and that lights up my heart. Nanima will be with me at every step, of course. The night before she’ll tell me to get it together and do my friend proud. It’ll be a kick ass cake.

If I was baking this cake for my grandparents, I’d describe it as Gajar Halwa cake. It’s got all the flavours of the traditional Indian dessert made with carrots, cardamom and nuts. It’s an ultra-moist (my work colleague and friend Jo’s Clothes says it’s okay to use that word in reference to cake), four layer beauty. Lauren wants an elegant naked cake with very little icing on the outside so I saw this as the perfect opportunity to practice my decorating skills for this kind of cake. Decorated with fresh tulips (which I grew in my garden, btw!) this is one of my more refined creations. The flavours are just as spellbinding as the presentation, and by god is this look easy to achieve! Follow my recipe below and you’ll have your very own wedding-inspired naked cake to devour.

This makes enough to fill 2 8-inch cake tins. Once the sponges have cooled, I split each one into two layers and fill with fluffy orange blossom cream cheese icing. The fragrance is unbelievable and is so good against the slightly sharp tang of cream cheese.

So it’s a short one today but I think bawling on the train once is enough for me this week and anyhow, it’s all about the cake. Bake it for someone you love.

Eggless Cardamom Carrot Cake with Orange Blossom Frosting
Serves 12-14

Ingredients:
450g flour, sifted
30g ground pistachios
1 tbsp coarse semolina
2 tsp ground cardamom
1 heaped tbsp ground cinnamon + 2 tsp
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground ginger
Zest of 1 large orange
Water from 1 can chickpeas
100g milk powder
140g sour cream
480ml sunflower oil
1 tbsp vanilla extract
420g grated carrots
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
300g caster sugar
120g brown sugar

For the frosting:

250g unsalted butter, softened

300g cream cheese, room temperature

550g icing sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tsp orange blossom water

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 160C/gas mark 4. Grease and line two deep 8-inch wide cake tins and set aside.

2. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and ground ginger.

3. Add the ground cardamom (at this stage because it needs to be coarsely ground unlike the other spices.

4. Add the semolina and ground pistachios.

5. Peel and grate the carrots on the large side of a grater.

6. In a stand mixer briefly combine the chickpea water and milk powder. Add the oil, brown sugar, caster sugar, orange zest, sour cream and vanilla extract. Beat for 2 minutes.

7. Add the flour mixture in two stages, still beating the mixture slowly. The batter should be relatively smooth but take care not to over beat.

8. Stop beating. Squeeze the juice from the carrots into the batter and fold. Finally, fold in all of the grated carrots.

9. Divide the batter between the two pans and slam the base of the pan onto the work surface to remove any unwanted air bubbles which may cause the cake to rise unevenly.

10. Bake for 45 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.

11. To make the icing: Place the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer with the whisk attachment affixed. Beat at high speed until pale. Gradually add the icing sugar in batches until it’s all incorporated. Add the vanilla, orange blossom water and a pinch of fine salt. Beat until very light and pale, about 6 minutes.

12. Add the cream cheese and whip until just combined. The frosting should be off white, thick and creamy.

13. Trim the tops of the sponges if they’re not totally flat and split each one through the middle. I use a cake wire like this one for even layers. You could also use a large serrated knife.

14. Place the first sponge on a cake board and fill with 2 ice cream scoops worth of icing (this is an easy way to ensure your layers have the same amount of icing in between). Spread it evenly.

15. Top with another sponge and repeat for the next layers.

16. Once your cakes are stacked, top with the remaining icing and cover the cake. You don’t have to be neat.

17. Use an offset spatula to scrape the icing from the sides of the cake to create a “naked” effect.

18. Decorate with swirls of icing using a regular piping bag and large swirl tip. Decorate with your favourite flowers.

Love Sanjana

The post Eggless Cardamom Carrot Cake with Orange Blossom Frosting appeared first on Sanjana.Feasts.

Turns out it’s only bloody brilliant.

I’ve been nuts about pistachio desserts ever since my taste buds got their first fix of the gorgeously-green ice cream as a kid. That sweet fragrance of pistachios and just a hint of almond reminds me of both Indian sweet shops with their rows upon rows of Pista Halwa and cherry-topped Bakewell Tarts. It’s what I imagine heaven for sweet-toothed food bloggers smells like. Also present in said heaven would be Mr Kipling (the master of baked goods), Lionel Ritchie (with his smooth-as-buttermilk voice) and Madhuri Dixit (with her timeless beauty). So like all the components of this, my dream cake… all the greats.

To get the perfect green pistachio paste, the pistachios should be unsalted, shelled and skinned. If you have the good fortune to encounter them in all their emerald-green glory in a shop, buy them. If, like me, you can’t find them, you’ll need to remove the outer shells, blanch them in boiling water for three minutes, drain and refresh under cold water, then slip the skins off. Finally, give them a quick toast in a hot oven.

Marzipan gives the paste a delicious nutty edge and liquid glucose brings it all together like a dream.

In this recipe, I use a combination of sweetened condensed milk, milk powder and buttermilk as an egg replacer and it really works wonders in helping the cake hold its structure once risen which I find is the trickiest part of egg-free baking.

Finish the cake with a slathering of cream cheese frosting, raspberries and extra pistachios. A few white chocolate curls are also welcome to join the party.

Eggless Pistachio and Raspberry Buttermilk Cake
Serves 10-12

Ingredients

For the pistachio paste blend together:
200g pistachios, shelled and skinned
150g white marzipan
220ml liquid glucose
A drop of green food colour, if required

For the cake:
1 x 397g tin sweetened condensed milk
180g caster sugar
320ml buttermilk
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
190ml groundnut oil
3 tbsp pistachio paste
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tbsp skimmed milk powder
450g cake flour

For the frosting:
250g unsalted butter, softened
250g full-fat cream cheese
300g icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract

To decorate:
400g raspberries
Pistachios
White chocolate curls

Method

1. Grease and line two 10-inch wide x 4-inch deep cake tins.

2. Pre-heat the oven to 160C.

3. In a stand mixer, combine the condensed milk, milk powder, cider vinegar, buttermilk, oil, pistachio paste and sugar. Beat on high speed for 5 minutes.

4. Sift in the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda in three stages, folding in gently between each. Don’t overbeat this.

5. Divide the cake batter between the two prepared tins, smoothing out the tops.

6. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until a sharp knife inserted into the middles comes out clean. It’s really important not to open the oven door for the first 30 minutes – your cakes will almost certainly collapse if you do.

7. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tins for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack. Leave to cool completely.

8. To make the cream cheese frosting, in a stand mixer beat together the butter, vanilla and sugar (add the sugar gradually) for 5 minutes or until pale and fluffy. Next, add in the cream cheese and beat in very briefly. If you overwork this, the frosting will become runny. Keep in the fridge until ready to use.

9. To decorate, sandwich the cakes together with half of the cream cheese and an even layer of raspberries. Top with the remaining frosting. Scatter with pistachios and white chocolate curls.

Enjoy with your favourite people or all by yourself.

Love Sanjana

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The Mr isn’t a fan of desserts. I’ll often spend hours in the kitchen trying to perfect eggless and vegan cakes, cheesecakes, cookies and brownies. Yet no matter how happy I am with how one might have turned out (which, I’ll be honest, doesn’t happen often), he still won’t touch it. Unless it’s mint chocolate.

I’ve never met anyone who doesn’t like ice cream. That changed when I met my husband. I’ll be honest, I thought it was super weird. The one exception to his no-ice-cream rule is mint chocolate, it has to be totally frozen (soft serve is never an option), topped with strawberry syrup and hazelnuts.

Just. So. Weird.

So here I am. It’s Valentine’s Day – which for the record, I think is a load of old bollocks. We don’t do presents and ridiculous extravagant gestures – we never have and never will. However, it isn’t very often he doesn’t work weekends so when we get the chance to spend time together, we make the most of it. Why do people need to ‘prove’ to the world they love each other on one day of the year? Usually it’s for the benefit of their Facebook ‘friends’. People should treat their other halves with love and kindness every day. Full stop.

Okay, that’s my little rant over.

This is one of those weekends where we’re both home so we decided to spend the day cooking. I love it when we do this.

Our ultimate menu of Paneer Butter Masala, Garlic and Coriander Naan, Gujarati Kachumbar and these Eggless Mint Chocolate Fondants and Fennel Seed Crème Fraîche is complete. The latter because it’s the only dessert he’ll eat.

I’ve been working on this recipe for a long time and now I’m finally ready to share it. The ingredients required are very different from a conventional chocolate fondant but the result is spectacular. A combination of things including baking powder, milk powder and cornflour work to do the job of eggs in my recipe. The batter recipe is perfect and provided you follow all the rules (because making chocolate fondants, a.k.a Moelleux au Chocolat ain’t a joke), they’ll be crisp on the outside and gooey in the middle.

Once baked for just 10 minutes, they need to be turned out and served immediately. If they’re not, they’ll carry on cooking and the middles will be light and fluffy rather than having the lava-like centre you really want.

Mr Patel, this one’s for you… but not because it’s Valentine’s Day.

Eggless Mint Chocolate Fondants & Fennel Seed Crème Fraîche
(serves 6)

Ingredients

200g sweetened condensed milk
100g sour cream
80g melted butter
200g melted mint chocolate (use one with at least 70% cocoa solids – I like Green & Blacks)
2 tbsp milk powder
1 tsp cornflour
5 tbsp plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 bag Mint Aero Bubbles (these are great melters)

For the Fennel Seed Crème Fraîche:

200g crème fraîche
1 tsp toasted fennel seeds, ground

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 200C.

2. Grease 6 dariole moulds and place a disc of greaseproof paper in the base of each.

3. In a stand mixer, combine the sour cream, condensed milk, melted mint chocolate and melted butter until smooth and light.

4. Add in the milk powder and continue to whip until fluffy.

5. Next, add in the flour, cornflour, and baking powder.

6. Beat until just incorporated – do not overmix.

7. Fill the moulds to just under half way. Pop in two (or three) Mint Aero Bubbles and cover with more batter. The moulds should be filled ¾ of the way up. Repeat for the next 5.

8. Place all of the fondants on a baking tray and bake for 10 minutes exactly.

9. Remove from the oven and immediately turn out onto a plate.

10. For the Fennel Seed Crème Fraîche, whip 200g Crème Fraîche with 1 tsp freshly-ground fennel seeds. Serve alongside the fondants for a lovely, fresh balance against the rich chocolate + a hint of spice.

The perfect way to round off any Indian meal.

Love Sanjana

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After a blissful late honeymoon in Phuket, Thailand, life in chilly England resumes. But thankfully I brought a few exotic Thai goodies back in my suitcase. Mango wafers, longan toffees, Thai honey and this gorgeous flaked coconut crowning my loaf cake.

Packed with coconut flavour, this eggless cake can be baked in a loaf tin or round cake tin. It’s great sandwiched with raspberry jam and buttercream but today, I wanted an exotic cake that reminded me of the mouth-watering flavours of Thailand. If you have a large loaf tin (25cm in length), this will make one loaf. If not, two smaller tins will be perfect.

Greek yoghurt is the perfect way to ensure this cake stays fluffy and rich inside and of course, there’s not a speck of butter in sight. Why use butter when coconut oil has so much more to give?

Cold-pressed coconut oil makes a wonderful loaf cake as it helps it retain its shape as well as keeping the cake fluffy and perfect inside as the coconut oil cools. It’s also packed with sublime coconut flavour. A touch of vanilla extract will help bring this out.

I always make it at least a day ahead of serving. When it comes out of the baking tin, wrap the cake in cling film and leave to cool like this. It will keep the cake lovely and moist. 

When toasting your coconut, keep an eye on it. It will scorch in the blink of an eye if you’re not careful.

The icing is just a simple mix of icing sugar, coconut extract, vanilla extract and a few drops of water added just until you have a thick ‘drizzleable’ consistency. Is that a word? It is now.

I love this with a cup of hot, milky masala coffee.

Eggless Coconut Drizzle Cake 
Serves 10

For the dry ingredients:

400g self-raising flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cornflour
100g desiccated coconut

For the wet ingredients:

200g coconut oil
350g caster sugar
200g Greek yoghurt
250ml coconut milk
2 tsp white vinegar
1 tsp vanilla extract 
1 tsp coconut extract

For the icing:

200g icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp coconut extract
20-30ml water or enough to make a thick icing

20g coconut flakes, toasted in the oven, to decorate

Method

1. Grease and line a 25cm x 8cm oblong loaf tin. Pre-heat the oven to 160 C

2. Combine all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.

3. In a stand mixer or large bowl, beat together the coconut oil and sugar for 5 minutes.

4. Add the rest of the wet ingredients and beat until well combined.

5. Gradually add in the dry ingredients, and beat until fully combines – no more than a minute.

6. Pour into the line baking tin and bake in the middle rack of the oven for 60 minutes or until a skewer poked through the middle comes out clean.

7. It’s important not to open the oven for the first 40 minutes of baking.

8. Remove from the oven, run a knife around the sides of the cake to loosen it and turn out onto a wire rack. Wrap the cake in cling film and allow to cool completely.

9. To make the icing, beat together all the ingredients and drizzle over the top of the cooled cake. Scatter over the toasted coconut flakes and allow the icing to set at room temperature for an hour or so.

Enjoy with masala coffee on a chilly afternoon.

Love Sanjana

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I remember being six years old and fascinated by cake. Today, I’m 26 and still obsessed with it. I once had a tragic experience with Death by Chocolate Cake. I begged and begged for it until my parents gave in, probably knowing I’d regret it the next day. Needless to say, it did exactly what it said on the box. I didn’t look at another cake for a very long time.

These days, I prefer my cakes with far less sugar… but still packing heaps of chocolate.

There’s nothing better than the marriage between intense chocolate sponge and subtle chai spices. This four-layer cake stays super moist because the sponge is soaked with a little bit of dark rum. If you don’t want to use rum, you can use a bit of gingerbread syrup (like the kind you add to coffee) or just leave it out. As the layers are thin, the buttercream will do a great job of keeping it moist.

For a rich chocolate kick, two teaspoons of good-quality instant coffee works a treat. The slight bitter notes make the chocolate flavour big, punchy and powerful.

If you’ve never tried Biscoff… Well, where the hell have you been?! Essentially, it is crushed Speculoos (spiced) biscuits made into a creamy spread the consistency of Nutella. Spread it on toast, pancakes and use it to make the buttercrean for this cake. Btw, it’s 100% vegan – magic!

I’ve spent many years trying to perfect the vegan sponge and the only one I can say I’m truly proud of and can always depend on is this chocolate cake. The use of white vinegar, oil and cocoa powder creates an even lift and remains moist without the use of eggs.

With hundreds of books on French pâtisserie – my favourite subject after savoury vegetarian cooking, I’ve committed so many hours trying to replicate the classics without using eggs, butter, milk and cream. Sometimes it’s with great success… but usually it ends in disaster. My vegan/eggless pastry chef life is sort of a work in progress I don’t like to talk about too often – and with good reason. 

Darkest Ever Vegan Chocolate Cake with Biscoff and Chai-Spiced Buttercream
Serves 10-12

Ingredients for the sponge:

450g plain flour
100g good-quality cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp salt
300g caster sugar
100ml vegetable or sunflower oil
500ml cold water
2 tsp instant coffee
2 tsp white vinegar
2 tbsp dark rum to soak the sponges (optional)

Ingredients for the buttercream:

250g soy margarine
300g crunchy Biscoff spread
2 tbsp icing sugar
2 tsp chai spice

Popcorn, toasted hazelnuts and Carnation Caramel (onit if vegan) to decorate

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 160 degrees C. Grease and line a 8-inch wide X 3-inch deep cake tin.

2. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt.

3. In a separate bowl or a stand mixer, whisk together the sugar, oil, water, coffee and vinegar until fully combined, about 5 minutes.

4. Gently fold in a third of the dry ingredients. Don’t worry if there are a few lumps. Next, fold in the remaining two thirds of the dry ingredients. Beat with a whisk until very few lumps remain, about 1 minute. Do not over mix it.

5. Pour the cake mix into the cake tin and bang the bottom of the tin on a work surface to ensure any bubbles come to the surface. This will ensure an even rise.

6. Bake the cake in the oven for 50 minutes or until a skewer poked into the centre of the cake comes out clean. It’s important you don’t open the oven for the first 40 minutes of cooking.

7. Once baked, remove the cake from the oven and allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes.

8. After 10 minutes, run a knife around the edge of the cake and carefully turn out onto a wire rack. Allow to cool fully, preferably overnight. Cover loosely.

9. To make the buttercream, beat the vegan margarine until light, pale and fluffy. Next, beat in the Biscoff, chai spices and icing sugar. Beat again until super fluffy. About 10 minutes.

10. To assemble to cake, remove the baking paper from under the cake and using a cake wire, cut the sponge into four even layers. At this point you can soak each sponge with dark rum, if using.

11. Place your first sponge on a cake plate and using an ice cream scoop, take four level scoops of your buttercream. Spread evenly and top with your next sponge. Repeat for all of the sponges and finally, top the cake with the remaining buttercream.

12. Scatter over the popcorn and caramel if using. If you don’t want to use caramel, you can used melted dark chocolate.

13. Cut into slices and serve with a cuppa chai. 

Who knows, maybe one day I’ll have enough dough to bag a place at Le Cordon Bleu. In Paris. Learning how to make perfect madeleines, tarts, gâteau, and croissants. 

Dreamy.

Love Sanjana

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As I set up a cocoa-dusted tile under the skylight in our attic room, ready for a rich, chocolatey banana loaf, cream and hazelnuts, it struck me how much writing this blog has become ingrained within my very bones. From developing recipes, to jotting down measures on the butter-splattered pages of my notebook, and the photography and digital journey I love so much, the process of maintaining it has helped me achieve focus in almost every aspect of life.

So you can imagine how much taking a six-month blog break for wedding planning bothered me.

Of course the only way to make things right is with Banana and Nutella Hazelnut Cake. When it’s baking in the oven, the entire house smells like the Sunday afternoons of my childhood when mum and I would be experimenting with flavours and egg replacements. This recipe uses sweetened condensed milk which slightly caramelises in the oven, filling the entire house with the smell of how Banoffee Pie tastes. As for the egg replacer, the bananas, cornflour, baking powder, cocoa and vinegar work in such a way that the cake rises and holds its shape like a trooper.

A problem I often encounter with loaf cakes is that the longer baking time makes for a drier texture. I recently read in a wonderful book on French pâtisserie, À la Mère de Famille (the renowned Parisian confiserie) that if you wrap the cakes in cling film whilst they’re still warm from the oven, they remain moist both outside and in. Try it.

Baking Nutella right into this cake means there’s no need for drizzles or icings – it really is sweet enough. Simply dusted with cocoa powder, it’s perfect with a cup of tea or served slightly warm with a generous splash of ice-cold single cream.

Eggless Banana and Nutella Hazelnut Cake
Makes 2 loaves

Ingredients

2 medium bananas
1 x 397g tin sweetened condensed milk
220g Nutella
220g extra-fine cake flour (you can use plain flour if you can’t get this)
15g good-quality cocoa powder (not drinking chocolate)
20g coarsely-ground hazelnuts, toasted
1 tbsp melted butter
2 tsp white vinegar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cornflour

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 160°C. Grease and line two 1lb loaf tins (16 x 11 x 7cm H. (6¼" x 4¼" x 2¾"). I used this one from Lakeland.

2. Place the bananas in a food processor and blend to a smooth puree.

3. In a stand mixer or large bowl, add the condensed milk, banana puree, Nutella, melted butter and white vinegar. Whisk until completely smooth and combined.

4. In a separate bowl, sift the cake flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and cornflour.

5. Add the cake flour to the wet mixture in three stages, whisking until smooth each time. Be careful not to overwork the batter or your cake will be heavier than it should be. Finally, fold in the toasted hazelnuts.

6. Divide the batter between the greased and lined loaf tins and smooth out the tops. Bake in the over for 45-50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cakes comes out clean. Remember not to open your oven door during cooking – this will deflate your cakes and make them sink in the middle.

7. When the cakes are fully baked, run a sharp knife around the edge of the tin to loosen it. Turn the cakes out onto a cooling rack and after 20 minutes, wrap each cake in cling film and allow to cool completely this way. As these are naked, non-glazed cakes, this will ensure the loaves remain moist.

8. To serve, dust lightly with cocoa powder. My favourite way to eat this is with a cup of chai or with a generous splash of pouring cream straight on top.

Love Sanjana

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