This Rasmalai Tres Leches Cake tastes just like rasmalai! The sponge cake is soaked in a cardamom and saffron flavoured milk mixture, and topped with a luscious whipped cream.
Rasmalai is one of my favourite Pakistani/Indian desserts! It's balls or discs of cheese, soaked in a sweet, thickened milk flavoured with cardamom and saffron. It's absolutely delicious. If you've never tried it, I strongly urge you to do so!
The flavour goes so well with tres leches, truly a fusion of flavours and cultures! It's the perfect dessert to make for Eid or any party to impress. My mom loves it so much that she's started using this rasmalai cake as the standard to judge all my other desserts. Sigh.
I love tres leches cakes and of course I have multiple variations, which I know you'll love! Check out this popular Pistachio Tres Leches, these refreshing Lemon Coconut Tres Leches and Strawberry Tres leches, this summery Mango Coconut Tres Leches and of course a Pina Colada Tres Leches!
Ingredients
See recipe card BELOW for measurements.
- Eggs - whites and yolks separated
- White granulated sugar
- All-purpose flour
- Baking powder
- Cardamom powder
- Whole milk
- Salt
- Evaporated milk
- Sweetened condensed milk
- Cardamom pods
- Saffron strands
- Heavy cream
- Powdered sugar
- Crushed pistachios
- Dried rose petals
Instructions
This recipe has three components: the sponge cake, the milk mixture, and the whipped cream (the easiest). It might seem a bit overwhelming at first, especially the sponge cake, but it's not that complicated. I'll walk you through step by step so make sure to follow along!
Making the sponge cake
Before starting, I recommend gathering and prepping all your ingredients to make it easier for you. This way you won't end up forgetting an ingredient or having to scramble around.
Whipping egg whites can seem like an intimidating task - I still go into it praying they whip up and that I haven’t wasted all those egg whites. The KEY is to make sure your bowl and beaters don't have any grease on it. Even the tiniest amount can prevent the egg whites from whipping up. Wash and properly dry before starting.
Another thing to consider when separating the eggs is to make sure no yolk gets into the whites, as the fat will prevent them from whipping. A good method is to crack each egg into a small bowl first, placing yolks in one bowl and whites in another before transferring the whites to your mixing bowl.
Crack the eggs one at a time and place the egg white into a small bowl and the yolk into another large bowl (where you'll whisk it with the sugar). Add the egg white to the main bowl to whip them up. Repeat with the rest.
Since whipped egg whites start deflating if they sit too long, I prepare the rest of the batter first, then whip the whites just before folding them in—always using separate whisks and beaters, of course!
- Separate the whites and yolks into clean separate bowls.
- Add 7 tablespoon sugar to the yolks and whisk together until light and airy. Whisk in the milk and vanilla. Add in the flour, salt and baking powder and gently mix until combined.
- Using a clean whisk or beater, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Gradually add in the rest of the sugar while beating. Continue until you get stiff peaks.
- Loosen the yolk mixture with a dollop of egg whites, then gently fold in the rest with a spatula making sure not to knock the air out. Cut down the middle with the spatula and fold from the sides towards the middle. Rotate and repeat.
- Pour the batter into an 8x8 pan lined only on the bottom with parchment paper. Don't grease the sides.
- Bake at 350°F for about minutes without opening the oven until the last 10 minutes. Check doneness by pressing the cake—if it springs back, it’s done; if it leaves an indent, bake a few more minutes.
- Let the cake cool upside down on a wire rack. Remove cake from pan and discard the parchment and put cake back in the pan.
Rasmalai Milk
Rasmalai is made by cooking milk with cardamom and saffron to reduce and thicken it up a bit. This process of cooking it—basically scalding it—denatures many of the proteins in the milk. It gives it a distinct, slightly sweet, creamy taste. Without this, it's simply not rasmalai.
To make the rasmalai milk for this tres leches cake, I chose to cook the milk with cardamom and saffron to reduce it a bit and replicate the flavour of the traditional dessert. It makes such a difference, instead of just adding the spices to the milk mixture. Definitely makes the cake taste just like rasmalai.
- Combine the milk, cardamom and saffron in a pot and heat it up just to a boil. Turn down the heat to a low simmer and cook while stirring occasionally until slightly thickened and reduced to 1 ⅓ cup.
- Add in the evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk and a pinch of salt. Taste to adjust the sweetness.
- Poke holes into the cake with a fork and slowly pour the milk mixture in 2-3 intervals, letting it absorb before adding more. You can reserve some of the milk for serving if you'd like. I do about ½ cup. Cover and soak in the fridge for a few hours or overnight .
Frost the cake
- Whip the cream until it starts to thicken, then beat in powdered sugar and vanilla extract just until you reach stiff peaks. Don't over-mix it or it will start to curdle.
- Transfer the whipped cream to a piping bag and pipe onto the cake. You can also just do a straight, smooth layer. Garnish with some crushed pistachios and dried rose petals
Storage
Cover and store this cake in the same pan, in the fridge for 4-5 days.
My top tips for success
- Beating the egg whites - Make sure the bowl and whisk you use to whip up the egg whites is completely CLEAN. It shouldn't have any grease, especially. This will prevent the egg whites from whipping up properly. When you separate the whites from the yolks, make sure not to get any of the yolk in the whites.
- Mixing the batter - Once you add the whipped egg whites to the yolk/flour mixture, make sure to gently combine it together. Use a spatula to scrape the sides of the bowl inwards and cut through the middle. You want to make sure to not deflate the egg whites because that is what will make the chiffon cake rise.
- Prevent cake from deflating - Only line the bottom of the pan and do NOT line or grease the sides of the pan. As the cake bakes, it needs to cling onto the pan to be able to stay up and remain that way as it cools. If you line/grease the sides, the cake will collapse and sink when it cools down. Place the cake pan upside down on a cooling rack as it cools down so it doesn't deflate.
Related
Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:
Rasmalai Tres Leches Cake
Ingredients
Sponge Cake
- 3 large egg whites, room temperature
- 3 large egg yolks, room temperature
- ¾ teaspoon baking powder
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour (103g)
- ⅔ cup white granulated sugar (133g)
- 3 tablespoon milk
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
Rasmalai Milk
- 1 cup evaporated milk (240ml)
- 1 ¾ cup whole milk (420ml)
- ⅔ cup sweetened condensed milk (160ml)
- 5 cardamom pods
- pinch of saffron
- pinch of salt
Frosting and garnish
- 1 cup heavy cream 240ml
- 2-3 tablespoon powdered sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- crushed pistachios
- dried rose petals
Instructions
Sponge Cake
- Separate the egg whites and egg yolks in clean separate bowls. To prevent a yolk from accidentally breaking into the whites, separate the whites into a separate small bowl each time and then transfer it to the one you will beat them in. Make sure the bowl you add the egg whites in is very clean and has no grease marks.
- Add about two-thirds of the sugar into the yolks (about 7 tbsp - 88g) and whisk well until pale and light. Whisk in the milk. Then add in the flour, salt and baking powder. Fold or whisk gently until all mixed together.
- Now beat the egg whites in the separate clean bowl, until soft peaks form. Gradually add in the rest of the sugar (3.5 tbsp - 45g) while beating and continue until you get stiff peaks.
- Add a dollop of the egg whites into the yolk mixture and whisk it in to loosen the batter and make it easier to fold in the whites. Add the rest of the whites and fold gently with a spatula by scraping from the sides of the bowl, inwards. Cut down the middle with the spatula and fold the sides towards the middle until mostly combined. Don’t mix too much or aggressively to prevent deflating the whites.
- In a 8x8 pan, with ONLY the bottom lined with parchment paper, pour the batter and bake at 350F° for about 40 minutes. Don’t open the oven door until the last 10 minutes. Gently poke the cake with your finger and if it springs back, it’s done. If it leaves an indent, then bake for another 5 ish minutes.
- Take the cake out of oven and place upside down on a cooling rack to let cool. This helps prevent it from deflating. Take the cake out of the pan and take off the parchment paper. Put the cake back in.
Rasmalai Milk
- Combine the milk, cardamom and saffron in a pot and heat it up just to a boil. Turn down the heat to a low simmer and cook while stirring occasionally until slightly thickened and reduced to 1 ⅓ cup.
- Add in the evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk and a pinch of salt. Taste to adjust the sweetness.
- Poke holes into the cake with a fork and slowly pour the milk mixture in 2-3 intervals, letting it absorb before adding more. You can reserve some of the milk for serving if you'd like. I do about ½ cup. Cover and soak in the fridge for a few hours or overnight .
Decorate
- In a chilled bowl, pour in your whipping cream and beat it until you get soft peaks. Now add in the powdered sugar and vanilla, and beat just until you reach stiff peaks. Don't over-mix it or it will start to curdle.
- Transfer cream to piping bag and pipe onto the cake. You can also just do a straight, smooth layer. Garnish with some crushed pistachios and dried rose petals
Amara says
Hey how do we adjust the recipe for a 9x13 inch tin?
Nabeah Wahab says
Double all the ingredients! Increase the baking time on the cake and if the surface starts to darken quickly, cover it with an aluminum foil. Make sure to bake it enough that it springs back when you lightly press down on it or it can have an eggy taste and can collapse as it cools.
Good luck!
Sakina ali says
Hey!
Just tried this out and it was perfect. A lil bit of suggestion when soaking the tres leches in the sponge ,flip the sponge upside down so the bottom layer is at the top this will make the top layer soak more liquid since the liquid settles at the bottom as sometimes the center of my cake doesn’t soak much liquid because the top later is a bit hard and it makes it hard for the liquid to penetrate as a result it comes out dry but i do solve the problem by adding more later but it ruins the decor .
Thanks again i will be trying this recipe with mango next.
Love your blogs
Amna Kashif says
My family loves tres leches cakes and it's the only cake we buy to celebrate all occasions. I've tried making it at home and I've followed various recipes but each time, my cake would be dry and it just wouldn't absorb any milk. But I tried your coconut lemon tres leches and it was PERFECT, my family loved it! This eid, we have a dawat at home and I made your rasmalai tres leches. I just wanna thank you for these amazing recipes, I'm so grateful that they work!
Zoya says
how much vanilla do I add to the sponge cake help pls
Mariah says
I do around a teaspoon and a half
Sarah says
I made this for Ramadan and it was such a crowd pleaser!!! The milk mixture tastes exactly like the one for rasmalai so it’s brown parent approved. Will most definitely make again!!
Koy says
Made them for our dinner party and everyone loves it! The flavors resembled traditional Rasmalai really well!! Will be making it again! Thank you so and amazing recipes.
Huzaifah Sheikh says
Eid Mubarak! I tried it and literally it was more than just an innovation. It tasted just like rasmalai. Everyone loved it. Thank you so much for sharing a dynamite
naquiya says
Oh this was sooo down right delicious, I made it for eid and it was a big big hit. Thank you for the recepie.
Arfah says
I made this recipe yesterday for Eid and my family loved it so much that they told me to make it once more so here I am making it again today.
Indian says
This is not a Pakistani dessert. Please!
Nabeah Wahab says
It's a rasmalai tres leches which is a fusion between a mexican tres leches and pakistani rasmalai?
Areeshah habib says
Heyyy! I wanna make small gift boxes for the family on eid and was thinking of adding this. Would it be okay if I make a huge batch and then bake them separately in small pans? What adjustments would I need to make?
Rabia says
Well, Pakistan was once part of India. A lot of things, people and recipes are inherited from their forefathers. Now all of them are Pakistani. Didn't mean to offend anyone but this is how things are. My father and mother moved to Pakistan much after independence and now we make all those Indian dishes under the banner of Pakistan.
Dlchin says
Me and my parents couldn’t resist the taste! It tasted like real Rasmalai can’t wait to try another recipe neither that it was hard to try out (it was my first time making the sweet) ..
Azra Batool says
This rasmalai tres leches was such a pure bliss!
The amazing thing is that Mom and Dad liked it a lot.
Thanks for sharing such an indulgent recipe
aarushi jhamb says
Can I substitute making my whipping cream with gay lea's whipped cream, bottled spray? What would be the difference
Nabeah Wahab says
Hi, sorry for the late reply! But no unfortunately, you cannot use whipped cream in place of whipping cream. Whipped cream (the one you mentioned) has been whipped and is used as a topping on foods. Whereas whipping cream is in liquid form and it has a high fat content and added to the milk mixture in this recipe to make it a bit richer and thicker.
Rahma says
Made this for dessert and my in laws cleaned it up! Always wanted to make tres leches and this recipe was so easy and quick to make. Making two more batches tonight. One for in laws and one for my family! Best version of tres leches wouldn’t have it any other way now.
Jessica says
Honestly such an incredibly delicious cake! Inhaled it! (But make sure to let the cake sit in the fridge at least overnight..the cake was the best two days after being made and stored in the fridge)
Deepthy Augustine says
Is oil or butter not needed?
Saliha says
Hello
How many eggs? I cant find How many in the recipe
Nabeah Wahab says
It's in the recipe card at the bottom as stated
Nargis says
How would I make this into a 9x9 baking pan? Planning to make it for eid too lol iA!
Nabeah Wahab says
I would just follow the recipe as is. It will be a little thinner but not that much of a difference. Or you can scale the recipe up to use 4 eggs (using the serving slider in the recipe card) and adjust accordingly. The measurements written in grams and millileters don't change automatically when the serving is changed, so you can multiply everything by around 1.34.
For example it would be 178g of sugar and 138g of flour for the cake portion.