Start by lining the cake pan for which first grease the pan with oil or butter and then place a parchment paper on top. Also preheat your oven to 180°C
Step 1: Prepare the Cake Base
Sift together plain flour, almond meal, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl and set aside.
Heat the butter and milk until the butter melts and the milk just begins to boil. Set this aside.
Whisk together the yogurt and sugar until homogenous.Start alternating between the dry and wet ingredients starting and ending with dry ingredients. So you add 1/3 of the sifted dry ingredients give it a mix and when you can still see some bits of flour remaining add half of the milk and butter mixture. Mix again. Repeat till you get a smooth cake batter like consistency.
Pour it into the prepared cake pan and bake in a preheated oven of 180°C for 16-18 mins or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Let it cool in the pan for another 5 mins and then invert on a wire rack to cool completely.
Step 2 - Burfi Mousse
Add ghee to a fry pan (image 7).
Once it melts, switch off the flame and then add milk powder, almond meal and milk.
Give a mix and switch on the flame (image 8).Cook until it thickens a bit about 2 3 minutes.
Then add the icing sugar and cook until the mixture starts rotating in the pan. This would take another 2 3 minutes. Before switching off the flame, add cardamom powder and give a final mix then transfer to a bowl to cool completely.
Once the burfi cools down, mix with a spoon to loosen it a bit then beat with a whisk to make it pasty.
With the help of a beater, whisking continuously add the whipping cream and icing sugar (if using). Whisk to form stiff peaks.
Transfer to a piping bag and set aside.
Step 3 - Cardamom Syrup
Crush the cardamom pods and add it to the milk and sugar in a saucepan. Heat this mixture until the sugar dissolves completely (no need to boil).
Transfer to a separate container and allow it to cool completely. Filter it out only before applying it on the cake.
Step 4 - Assemble the Cake Jars
Once the cake is cooled completely cut it using a round cookie cutter that fits your jars and then slice horizontally to form two layers.
This is the first layer of your jar cake. So add it to the base of the jar.
Add 2 to 3 tsp of prepared Cardamom Syrup on top to soak the cake
Using the piping bag, pipe a layer of the Barfi Mousse on top.
Crush some burfi pieces on top.
Then repeat the layers till you reach the very top.
Garnish as desired.
Video
Burfi Cake Jars is an Indian Inspired Dessert that combines the flavours of milk powder barfi an authentic Indian fudge recipe along with a cake recipe that is again loaded with Indian flavours. An Indian fusion recipe that would keep everyone wanting for more
Notes
For making cake jars always prefer using a sheet pan to bake the cake layer as it gives even layers and also takes less time to bake comparatively.
Please note the after assembling 8 cake jars you will be left out with some cake slices which you can freeze for later or consider using it in the alternate ways mentioned in the post. If you wish to make all the cake jars then use 300 ml of whipping cream in place of 200 ml cream mentioned in the Burfi Mousse Ingredient list in Step 2
Always cube your butter so that it melts faster as we do not want any loss of moisture in the form of steam.
The butter and milk mixture needs to be hot while mixing with rest of the ingredients to make the cake batter.
The reason for alternating between dry and wet ingredients is just to avoid over-mixing of the batter. (This and 9 other tips has been explained in my baking ebook tips, which you can download for free by subscribing to our weekly newsletter).
Do not cook the burfi mixture for long in step 2 as we want to combine it with cream later. Cooking too long would cause it to set like a traditional burfi which we do not want.
Do not overbeat the frosting or else it will lose its texture and split.
I used homemade burfi pieces, crushed it and added it to the filling. The recipe is adapted from our Milk Powder Burfi post just used Saffron infused Milk in place of Plain Milk.
Always store the jar cakes in the refrigerator.
Do not throw away the leftover cake scraps. You can use it to make cake pops or cakesicles. Spread it on a baking tray and bake again to form cake crumbs. Use it to top on ice-creams or freeze it for later.
To make the jar cakes it is always a good idea to use a wide mouth jar to assemble easily. However I did not have one so I am using a narrow mouth jar.
Consider checking my Cake Pricing Guide post to understand how much to price for this Burfi Cake Jars.