A Slice Of Mawa Cake

I complete a set of decades today. My life has been an upward journey materialistically and spiritually. I have enjoyed some of it. I have given myself selflessly to the people I love and care for, some were able to handle it some were not. I rarely regret the way I have led my life. Yet wish I could change a few things.

I wish I had been more greedy.

I wish If not a bimbo I was a dumbo.

I wish I was selfish.

I wish I knew how to live off my family.

No, I thank GOD I am not what I wish for. I am not miserable and therefore I think I am happy.

Just one wish I had planned that I will fulfill it by the time I complete this milestone has not been possible. Give me a year and may be I will share it here.

Yes but what I can share with you right now is a slice of Mawa Cake. Take a bite.

You want the recipe too?

Ingredients

1.5 cups All purpose flour

1/2 tin sweet condensed milk

100 gms unsweetened Mawa

1/4 cup oil

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon cardamom powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup of sugar or more

some milk to adjust the thickness of the batter

In a large bowl sieve the all purpose flour. Crumble the Mawa with your hand and mix with the flour. Now add the oil. Mix well with a spatula. Then stir in slowly the condensed milk, cardamom, salt and sugar till it dissolves. Finally dissolve the baking powder in about a tablespoon of milk and stir in carefully into the batter. Now fold the batter to smoothness. Lift the batter with the spatula and if it falls in folds then it can be poured into the tin else thin it out to make it foldable with more milk. Use a tablespoon at a time. You don't want very thin batter. Grease the loaf tin and dust it with dry flour. Tap dual coated tin over the sink to remove excess flour. Pour the batter into the tin slowly and spread it evenly.

Bake it in a preheated oven at 185 deg celsius for 10 mins till golden and the next 20 mins covered lightly with a tin foil. Make sure the crumb is dried out and this you check by inserting a knife into it. If it comes out clean, it's time to remove the cake tin. Let it cool for 10 mins then unmould it on a platter. Slice it when completely cool.

The Mawa cake has a crumbly texture as opposed to a spongy one that's characteristic of cakes. This is a tribute to my childhood's Irani bakeries of Mumbai, the one that was at the entrance of 1st Koli lane in Colaba, Yazdani and one in Bazargate, Fort. Till Monginis showed up on the cake scene in Mumbai all my birthday cakes were from these bakeries. Mawa cakes are mostly made as cup cakes only some sell as slices.