Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen was our August 2013 Daring Bakers’ hostess and she challenged us to make some amazing regional Indian desserts. The Mawa Cake, the Bolinhas de Coco cookies and the Masala cookies – beautifully spiced and delicious!
I chose the Mawa Cake and the Bolinhas de Coco cookies for the challenge.I started the Mawa Cake first since it seemed the most complicated and time consuming. Both desserts took a couple days each to complete so these are definitely NOT last minute thoughts. I was surprised how easily the Mawa came together and how wonderful it made the house smell. I added chopped dates to half of the cake just to see how it would fare. I do not think the dates added anything to the flavor and I liked the half without them better.The cake was very plain Jane looking but was very tasty with an afternoon cup of coffee. I dressed it up a little more that evening for dessert. I added a scoop each of blood orange sorbet and ginger ice cream. all the flavors blended nicely and gave the cake a rich feel. The cake did not keep well. The next day it was a little stale tasting and the third day, not even ice cream could save it. I would make this for a party occasion where I would not expect leftovers.
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| This is mawa, greatly reduced milk! |
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| Can you smell the aromatic cardamon? |
The Bolinhas de Coco cookies were a complete disaster for me. I just could not get my head around what was expected. I think looking back on it now, I should have cooked a bit more liquid out of the mixture. Whacking the coconut was tons of fun though and I volunteer to The cookies tasted OK but not being a huge coconut fan, I was not the main taster.My main tasters agreed that the cookies were a bit heavy and dry...most likely my fault for not cooking out that darn liquid. I find, even though it is out of my comfort zone, that the Daring Bakers teaches me to appreciate the care and uniqueness of cuisines I don't know well. I love having a great excuse to try out new techniques with the sweet guidance of fellow Daring Bakers.
Here is a link to the recipes:
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| Should have kept cooking??? |
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| The dough was very loose.I knew I was in trouble. |
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| A bit flat...they should have been puffy. |
I ended up baking my cake at the last minute so it is possible to wait that long to get started. Hee hee! Your cake looks great! I'm sorry to hear about the leftovers though because I have a lot left over and it's only been day 1 for me. I too had trouble with my cookies. Not sure what the problem was them. Nice job on the challenge!
ReplyDeleteI notice a lot of people had trouble with the cookies. I made the masala cookies and they were delicious!
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear about the bolinhas not working, it may not look like the Indian cookies but they do look delicious! Your mawa cake looks wonderful!
ReplyDeleteGreat job!
ReplyDeleteYour mawa cake looks delicious!