A delectable fusion cake with Indian flavors – this eggless thandai cake is baked in pressure cooker and is soft, moist and loaded with all the flavours of thandai
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Grease a 6 inch baking tin with oil. Dust it with flour. Tap and make sure that the tin is evenly coated with flour. Remove excess flour. You may refer to our detailed video tutorial on how to grease a cake tin.
For thandai milk
In a thick bottomed pan, combine 1 cup milk and ¼ cup homemade thandai powder and heat on medium flame. Once the milk comes to a boil, reduce the flame to low and simmer for 4-5 minutes. Keep stirring frequently. By doing so all the thandai masala flavours will be absorbed in milk. In the end, add 1/3 cup sugar and cook for another 1-2 minutes till it gets dissolved.
Remove from flame and strain this mixture and collect milk in a wide bowl. Let this thandai milk come to room temperature.
Leftover thandai powder paste collected in the strainer can be used to make thandai flavoured milk again. You can also use it to make thandai mathri. Follow our baked thandai mathri recipe, but add milk only if required. Since this paste will have milk and moisture.
Pre-heating pressure cooker
Before mixing wet and dry ingredients, preheat the cooker. Remove the whistle and gasket from the lid of pressure cooker. Add salt in the base of the cooker and spread it with hands. Salt should be enough to cover the base of cooker. Place a stand inside. Cover it with lid and let it pre-heat on a medium heat for 5-10 minutes.
Preparing cake batter
Sift maida, corn flour, milk powder, baking powder and baking soda in a bowl.
Once thandai milk is cooled, add oil, curd and vanilla essence. Whisk well with a hand whisk until everything gets combined well.
Add all the dry ingredients in 2-3 batches and whisk gently to avoid lumps.
Now check the consistency and add 1-2 tablespoon water gradually and keep mixing till you get a smooth lump free batter. Do not over-mix. First mix with a spatula, if you observe any lumps, then whisk it with a hand whisk. Consistency of the batter should be such that it should easily drop from spatula. You can adjust the quantity of water. Only add water if you find the batter thick.
Pour the batter into the tin. Tap 4-5 times just to level the mixture.
Open the lid of pressure cooker, put a perforated plate (plate with holes) on the stand and place our cake mould on it. If your stand is tall, then no need to place plate on it. We have used 5 litre aluminium cooker.
Close the lid and bake on medium heat for about 30-40 minutes. Baking time will vary as per the size of cooker and size of baking tin. We suggest you remain alert after 30 minutes. Insert a knife/toothpick into the middle of the cake. If it comes out clean, cake is ready. If it doesn’t come out clean, bake for a few more minutes.
Remove the tin, cover and let it cool down for atleast 30 mins before demoulding. Once slightly cooled, invert on a wire rack.
Cover the cake and allow it to cool completely for 3-4 hours before slicing.
For the sugar glaze
In a bowl combine icing sugar, melted butter and milk. Add milk gradually and keep mixing till you get a pouring consistency glaze. Make sure glaze is not too thin.
Once the cake comes to room temperature, pour the glaze and serve. Do not pour the glaze when the cake is warm or hot.
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Notes
Once the cake comes to room temperature, pour the glaze and serve. Do not pour the glaze when the cake is warm or hot. Otherwise the sugar will melt and get absorbed in the cake.
Add milk gradually to icing sugar and melted butter and keep mixing till you get a pouring consistency glaze. Make sure glaze is not too thin. If the glaze becomes too thin or runny, then add little more icing sugar or corn flour.
Either grease the tin with oil/butter and dust it with flour. Second way is to spread oil/butter and then line it with parchment paper/baking sheet.
All the ingredients to be used, should be at room temperature.
We have used 5 litre aluminium cooker. If you have a tall stand use that one. We didn’t had tall stand, so we have placed a perforated plate (plate with holes) on the stand and placed our cake mould on it. If your stand is tall, then no need to place plate on it.
Leftover thandai powder paste collected in the strainer after straining thandai milk can be used to make thandai flavoured milk again. You can also use it to make thandai mathri. Follow our baked thandai mathri recipe, but add milk only if required. Since this paste will have milk and moisture.