Milk Cake
Author: 
Recipe type: Dessert
Cuisine: Indian
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 1.5 pounds
 
Milk Cake is another one of those recipes that magically transforms milk and sugar into a delicious dessert. Milk Cake is very popular in the north of India, which is arguably where you get the best Milk Cake in India. This recipe is laborious because you need to watch and stir the milk for about an hour or so, but the results are worth the effort.
Ingredients
  • 10 cups Whole Milk
  • 1 cup Sugar
  • 3-4 tbsp Lemon juice
  • ½ tsp Cardamom Powder
  • Pinch of Saffron threads (optional)
Instructions
  1. Bring the milk to a boil on medium-high heat in a heavy-bottomed pot to prevent it from burning; this may take up to 15 minutes. TIP: Keep a close watch on the milk when bringing it to a boil so it does not boil over.
  2. When the milk comes to a boil, reduce the heat to medium. Keep stirring the milk at regular intervals to ensure that it does not burn at the bottom of the pot. You need to continue stirring regularly until the milk has reduced to about ⅓ of the original volume. Also, as the milk reduces in volume, keep scraping any milk solids that are formed on the sides of the pot. IMPORTANT: As the milk continues to thicken and its volume decreases, you must stir it more frequently. The key is that you do not want the milk to burn.
  3. In a bowl, combine about 2 tbsp of water and the lemon juice. Reduce the heat to low, and add the diluted lemon juice to the pot. Give the pot a couple stirs to mix in the lemon juice. Stop stirring and let the milk stand for about 30 seconds. The sour lemon juice will make the milk curdle and little grains of milk solids appear.
  4. Increase the heat back to medium and continue stirring, scraping the bottom of the pan with the spatula to prevent burning.
  5. Add the Cardamom Powder and Saffron to the mixture and continue stirring so it gets mixed in well.
  6. When you see that the entire mixture moves together as one unit when you stir it, and it does not stick to the bottom any more, take the pot off the heat. It should look something like the photo below.
  7. Setting the Cake in a Vessel: Grease the setting vessel with ghee or unsalted butter and pour the milk cake batter into the vessel. Level the top surface of the mixture and press firmly with a spatula, so that the mixture is compact. Do not refrigerate it and let it set until it completely cools down. It will continue to caramelize as it cools.
  8. Removing the Cake from the Vessel: Using a knife, separate the sides of the cake from the vessel. Put the vessel on your stove at low heat for about 6-8 seconds. Turn the vessel over on a plate and the cake should slide onto it. You may need to tap the bottom of the vessel to help it out.
Notes
After you add the lemon juice to curdle the milk, you must keep stirring the milk continuously until it’s time to take the pot off the heat. Add the sugar to the pot and continue stirring and scraping the bottom of the pan. The sugar will make the milk stick more to the pot and so you must keep stirring continuously.
As you continue stirring, you will also notice that the color of the mass changes as the milk gets caramelized and the mass has a thick pudding consistency. Reduce the heat to low.
Recipe by Pure Curry at https://www.purecurry.com/milk-cake/