Mawa Cakes à la Kayani Bakery
Mawa cakes can stir up a lot of emotion in people. Mention the names Kayani or Merwan to folks from Pune and Mumbai the first thing that will pop up in our minds are these dense cakes flavored with a hint of elaichi. If you are from Pune, it will also evoke memories of tree lined streets , quiet afternoons, waiting impatiently for the bakery doors to open so that you can finally get your hands on that cherished cake..
The cake is similar to a pound cake - but denser. The crumb is more tightly packed. The batter if you make it with powdered khoya/mawa has the same consistency as cookie dough. The airiness comes from the eggs and the baking powder. When I started researching the recipes for Mawa cake, I read up a lot recipes but the ones that I finally followed were the Bawi bride and Parita's Kitchen as well as Khana Khazana. I used the powdered khoya that is available in Indian Stores here. If you would like to make your own Khoya, My diverse kitchen has a link to an excellent recipe.
The best compliment I got for these cakes came from my cousin who lives in Pune. He said that the pictures reminded him of Kayani cake and that he was going to get one the same afternoon. DH and I - both agreed that the taste and flavor of the cakes was pretty much on par with the ones sold in Pune. All in all it was an afternoon well spent..
Recipe
2 cups of All purpose flour
1-2/3 cups sugar
1 cup milk
200 gms khoya
16 tbsp unsalted butter
1/2 tspn cardamom powder
1/8th tsp of salt
5-6 eggs
1tspn baking pdr
Cashews and almonds to garnish
Method
Heat oven to 350F/180 C.
Cream butter and sugar.
Add eggs and milk.
Mix all the dry ingredients (APF, Salt, khoya, baking Powder, Cardamom Powder).
Add in 3 parts to the wetmixture.
Make sure the dry ingredients are incorporated before you add the next batch of dry ingredients.
If you are using muffin tins, grease them beforehand and line them with paper liner. You can make the cake in Loaf pans as well. This batter will fill two 8 x 3 loaves.
Garnish with Cashews or almonds.
The muffins should take anywhere from 13-18 mins. The loaves will be done in 22-25 mins.. Best to do a tooth pick test in the center of the cake to test for doneness.
