Thandai spiced Mawa Cake with Rose syrup Fresh Cream and am Back

You know how it is to sit and write after a long? I mean a real looooong time. Its like sitting there with an old type writer whose keys are rusty and no matter how much you put pressure on it, it cant type a single word. The same happened to me when I tried to write a post.

No, not in the same exact way but I discovered words are not flowing to me as it used to do earlier.

so I decided to write whatever comes to my mind. I have a headful of things that I want to share.  and how does it matter whether they come by a proper sequence or not. But then again I was so detached from this whole world of blogging or for that matter from the net that I had to search and rediscover even the most used tools on the blogger bar. 

Sigh!!!

That's the life of a new mom, in my case make it second time new :-)

So to start with, I was thinking or rather tempted to call this post 'Am back'.

not like announcing it loud and clear,  rather to speak in loud so that the words fall on my ears...so that my laziness doesnt get the better of me to neglect this space for such long.

But this time I had a reason. a very sweet reason to be precise. and am sure you all know it by now...The reason my 3 month old daughter is one adorable little girl with twinkle in her eyes. Who is very good at melting our heart away with her big gummy smile. She is happy when she is surrounded by music but happiest when her Dadda (elder brother) is around. He invariably talks to her all the time he is at home...sometimes so much that we have to plead him to stop.

You can imagine how exciting the last 3 months have been, though I am a little sleep deprived...I mean if sleeping for 5-6 hours a day could be termed as that. But I enjoyed the time with my two kids and constantly kept on trying to make myself believe that now am a mother of two.

but life has been good, and blessed. There were days when my nesting instinct was so inspiring that I arranged and re arranged things around the house or crocheted pretty stuffs for the girl. Then there were days when I felt drained and slept for hours.

In between all these madness son turned 5. I was little unwell and all I could do was to gather his favourite meal and bake two cakes for him (one for his school)...no decoration or celebration this year. Only some quite family time and some outdoor fun with Dad in a nearby amusement Park. and this easy to be pleased little kid of mine was as happy as a purring cat.

Then I went home, after a long one year i went home to surround myself with that familiar warmth. Its like going back to your childhood best friend just to talk, just to blabber out all the things locked away in your heart and then feeling relieved and light. The same solace I get there. The garden, the shadow of the huge mango tree or that cold nook of my old room comforts me. and to top that off Maa and Bhai (younger brother) spoil us silly.

Then I came back and as I am sitting here middle of the afternoon the Washing machine is continuously whirring to wash the truckload of clothes I came back with...The kids are sound asleep and once I finish writing I have numerous other things to do.

Yes life is back to normal and I have plenty of new things and opportunities to look forward to. and the slice of the cake recipe that am sharing today will make any work bearable.Trust me on this. Mawa, Thandai Spice, Almond meal and rose syrup can never go wrong...still have doubt??? Come on how could they go wrong when they taste oh so delicious just mixed together.

I baked this cake during holi for my son's birthday and to give it more festive look iced with rose syrup fresh cream. All the Mawa, Nuts, Saffron, Rose syrup gave it a rich Mithai feel but you can taste a dense rich cake in every bite. When served chilled it could be a real summer soother. This is one decadent cake you need to try to bake and ice it to believe in my words.

Thandai Spice Mawa Cake with Rose syrup Fresh cream

(makes one 6" tall cake)

Ingredients:

Flour: 3/4 cup +2tbsp corn flour

baking powder: 1/2 tsp

Sugar: 7 tbsp

Khowa or Mawa: 6 tbsp (crumbled)

Milk: 1/4 cup

Egg: 1 large

Butter/ Margarine: 100 gms

For the thandai Syrup:

Almonds: handful

Milk: 3 tbsp

Melon seeds: 1 tbsp

Green cardamom: 3 fat pods

peppercorns: 4-5

Fennel seeds: 1/3 tsp

Poppyseeds: 1/4 tsp

Saffron: fat pinch

OR

buy store bought syrup and use 3 tbsp + 2 tbsp almond meal

For the Icing:

fresh cream: 1 cup

Rose syrup: 2 tbsp

Castor Sugar: 3 tbsp if its not sweetened already. please check.

Method:

First lets make the Thandai syrup. For this soak the melon seeds and almonds at lelast for 2 hours. Separatey soak the saffron in the milk. Once the nuts and seeds are soft blend everything together to a paste. It would be little grainy but thats ok. Keep it aside.

Keep everything out for the cake. Start by sieving the flour, corn flour and baking powder.

If the mawa is store bought grate it and measure.

Pre heat the oven at 180 C and line and grease a 6" pan.

In a large bowl start by beating the sugar and butter till creamy and smooth. to this add the khowa. mix properly and beat for a minute. Whisk in the egg and then add half of the flour and using a spatula fold it nicely into the egg batter. Add the milk and the thandai spiced syrup (would be very thick). Fold in and finally add the rest of the flour. Mix in all together.

Pour into the pan and bake for 45-50 minutes or a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Cool the cake in the pan for 15 minutes and then invert on a wire rack. It would be little dense, handle it carefully.

Once the cake is completely cool (2-3 hours) you can slice it in two. As I said its quite crumbly would not recomend slicing it very thin, you have every chance to break it in pieces.

Whip the chilled fresh cream with the rose syrup (I used a local brand called Rally's which is red in colour and hence the nice pink hue in my icing) till you get stiff peaks.

Usings a spatula first layer a big dollop of cream on one layer and then sandwich with the other layer. Cover the whole cake with more cream and decorate with nuts and roses if you wish.

If you are not confident to ice the cake then just serve it chilled with a slice of the cake. Its delicious together no matter how you eat.