Vegan Rasmalai Cake is a dairy-free spin on the popular Bengali Dessert Rasa Malai that is typically served for Diwali! Moist almond and cashew flour cake squares immersed in a rich and creamy cashew pistachio "milk" scented with saffron and cardamom. Soyfree Glutenfree

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 15 minutes
  • Cook time: 30 minutes
  • Total time: 105 minutes
  • Yield: 6
  • Category: Dessert, Snack
  • Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients

For the Malai (The milk sauce)

  • 1/2 cup raw cashews
  • 1 tbsp raw pistachios (about 6-7)
  • 1 cup water (Use scant cup)
  • 3 -4 strands of saffron
  • 5-6 tbsp sugar (I used half cane and half powdered sugar so that it doesn't add color to the sauce.)
  • 1/8 tsp salt
  • 1 cardamom pod,seeds

For the Malai Cake:

  • 1/2 cup raw cashews (Use a heaping cup)
  • 1 tbsp cornstarch (or tapioca starch)
  • 1 cardamom pod seeds
  • 3-4 saffron strands
  • 1/2 cup almond flour
  • 1 big pinch of salt
  • 3 tbsp vegan cream cheese (I use kite hill plain)
  • 2 tsp vegan butter (or use oil)
  • 1/4 cup powdered sugar

For Garnish:

  • 1 tbsp almond slivers
  • 1 tbsp chopped raw pistachios

Method

For the Milk:

  1. Soak the cashews and pistachios overnight, or at least 4 hours. Then drain well and add to a blender along with the rest of the ingredients, and blend until the mixture is really smooth. It will look like milk, and that's okay. Taste and adjust Sweet and set aside.

For the Malai Cake:

  1. You want to convert the cashews into a flour, so add the cashews, cardamom, cornstarch, and saffron in a blender, and blend for 15 seconds, then start pulsing every few seconds. Use a spoon to move the mixture around so there are no cashews lurking in the corners, and pulse a couple of times more until the mixture is a fine meal. If there are any cashew pieces left, remove them, or try to pulse them in by pulsing a couple more times, and then remove any remaining large cashew pieces from the mixture.
  2. Transfer to a bowl, add the almond flour, salt, cream cheese, butter, and sugar and mix. Press and mix with a spatula, or use your hands to make a dough.
  3. Grease a shallow baking dish, and press this dough onto the dish into a square or rectangle, less than half an inch thick, and even out the edges. You can wet your hands before doing that so that it's not as sticky, or use oil on your hands.
  4. Bake at 275 degrees F (135 C) with the fan on(convection) for 25-30 minutes, or until the mixture feels completely dry on top, and has lightened in color. You can also use regular bake if you don’t have convection
  5. Take the pan out and let it cool for 10-15 minutes, then slice the cake into an inch or inch and a half big squares, and slightly separate it out. The center will feel very soft, so separate out only if it's not breaking into pieces.
  6. Pour the entire sauce mixture all over to submerge the cake.
  7. Garnish with pistachios and almond slivers, and let this mixture chill for at least a few hours before serving

Kiyaan Singh’s Kitchen Note

Keep this recipe as a working base: cook once as written, then adjust spice, texture, and serving style for your own table.