The Magic Behind the Mithai!
The Milk Cake is a mithai that is easily everyone’s favourite. We all have eaten it in some shape or the other. Whether it's in the form of a fudgy burfi up North or in Rajasthan or in the slightly loose format down south called ‘theratti paal’ it’s flavour that is so deeply etched in our palates growing up.
The way the Milk Cake is made is as literal as its name, but not as simple. High fat milk is cooked to one third of its quantity. Once the milk is added, the halwai either ads fitkari (alum) or citric acid to split the milk after which sugar is added. The grainy texture of the mithai is due to the splitting of the milk. Once it is cooled and left to set, it is cut into cubes.
There’s not a thing we wanted to change in the Milk Cake in terms of flavour. In our version we add a little bit of malt powder for that additional caramelised flavour but other than that, we stuck to the classic! But in terms of the presentation we thought, why not make it look like an actual cake? Hence, our interpretation of the Milk ‘Cake’ is cut and glazed with caramel and then garnished with a chocolate filigree, the design of which was inspired by the imarti. The dark chocolate also cuts the sweetness!
Well, if you asked our Halwais what the trickiest part of making this is, they would say keeping a watchful eye constantly for that perfect fudgy goodness.