Chana Magaj Masala Chai Spiced Cake

Chana Magaj Masala Chai

Spiced Cake

Chana Magaj is an Indian Fudge made from chickpea flour and ghee. Paired with a buttery masala chai spiced cake and cream cheese frosting, it is absolutely decadent!

Trust me when I say you want this cake on your dessert table this Diwali!

Chana Magaj Masala Chai Spiced Cake

Ingredients

For chana magaj
500 g chickpea flour, also known as chana

500 g ghee

500 g icing sugar

275 g full cream milk powder

2 teaspoons ground cardamom

100 g roasted unsalted pistachios, ground

For Masala Chai Spiced Cake
250g Sasko cake flour, sifted

½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

350 g sugar

Egg whites from 5 large eggs, at room temperature

170 g unsalted butter, at room

temperature

120 g full fat plain yogurt/sour cream, at room temperature

3 teaspoons vanilla extract/essence

240 ml full fat milk, room temperature

4 tablespoons ground ginger

3 tablespoons ground cinnamon

4 ½ teaspoons ground cardamom

1 tablespoon ground black pepper

¾ teaspoon ground nutmeg

¾ teaspoon ground cloves

Cream cheese frosting
500 g icing sugar

100 g unsalted butter, at room temperature

250 g full fat cream cheese

Method
For chana magaj

1. Prepare a cake pan with baking paper and set aside.

2. Place the ghee and chickpea flour onto a large non-stick pan on medium heat and braise until the colour turns golden brown, about 10 minutes.

3. Remove of the heat and add in the icing sugar, ground pistachios and milk powder. Return to the heat and stir constantly until it turns a deep caramel colour. Mix in the ground cardamom and press the mixture into the prepped cake pan and allow to set in the fridge.

For chai spiced cake

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Prepare three 20 cm cake pans.

2. Mix all the ground spices into a small bowl and set aside.

3. Whisk the cake flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder, 4 ½ teaspoons of chai mix and salt together in a bowl and set aside.

4. Beat the butter and sugar together until creamy and pale in colour. Add in all the egg whites and beat until combined. Beat in the yogurt and vanilla extract/essence. Slowly mix in the dry ingredients.

5. Slowly pour in the milk. Pour batter into prepared baking pans and bake for 25 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Allow cakes to cool completely before icing and assembling.

Cream cheese frosting

Cream the butter and icing sugar until very light and fluffy. Add the cream cheese and ¾ teaspoons of chai spice mix and whip until it looks creamy and fluffy.

Assemble
To make layering the cakes easier, pop the layers into the freezer for 30 minutes after frosting each layer.

Before layering crumble half of your chana magaj over the layer of cream cheese icing. Frost the sides of the cake and top cake with crumbled chana magaj and roasted pistachios, place gold leaf on the sides. Store in the fridge and allow to come to room temp 30 minutes before serving.