Vegan Malai Burfi (Milk Cake)- Indian Fudge Bars. Creamy Cardamom Fudge. Dairy-free Burfi For Indian Festivals. Vegan Gluten-free Soy-free Recipe. 8 Ingredients! Jump to Recipe
Every year around the festival season, memories of celebrations make their presence felt. I can’t travel that far anymore but I can celebrate with family and friends here, and enjoy all the amazing food and desserts.
Dairy is a heavily used ingredient esp in Indian desserts that are often made or bought for the festivals. So I try veganize a few of them every so often. I developed this recipe after tasting a nut based cultured cheese(Macadamia cashew Camembert) from Vromage sometime back. The cheese reminded me of the texture of Burfis like Kalakand and Malai Burfi. The slight tang, the dense rich flavor, minus the sugar. Being able to Veganize Indian desserts is always exciting. Its like being able to eat that favorite family cake or pie again after many years! Lets get to this homemade vegan burfi.
There are 2 ways to make this Malai Burfi. Use almond based vegan cream cheese. I use kite hill cream cheese for this quick burfi. Or You can make your own almond cheese with peeled soaked almonds, a dash of salt, a touch of probiotic powder. Blend with just a bit of water, wrap in a cheesecloth and let it sit to drain on the counter and just about start to ferment for a few hours and use it. You want to use the cream cheese while very fresh with a light fermented flavor. The cream cheese will keep on fermenting with time and getting tangier which will alter the flavor of this Burfi Fudge. Most other non dairy cheeses might not work in this recipe.
This is a very simple recipe and it is so close to the dairy burfi, you will be surprised. Indian desserts tend to be very sweet traditionally and I am sticking to the traditional flavor. Indian sweets and desserts are generally served in small portions on occasion. You can reduce the sugar if you wish. This burfi also has a specific traditional flavor and texture. You can play around with the ingredients to make a creamy cardamom fudge to preference if you are not trying to stick to it.
More Indian Desserts options from the blog
- Gajar Halwa- Carrot Spoon fudge GF.
- Mango Sheera / Halwa
- Mango Burfi – GF Bars
- Kesar Peda – GF Saffron almond fudge cookies
- 7 Cup Burfi – Chickpea flour coconut Fudge. GF
- Vermicelli Kheer Pudding – GF option
- More Indian Sweets like Gulab jamun, Kaju Katli,Laddoos.
There are also more vegan Indian desserts (sandesh, Rasmalai!) in Indian Kitchen book.
This burfi is a soft moist fudgy bar with a burst of texture and flavor. Garnish with whatever you like and make a double batch for Rakhee or Indian Independence day. If you make this Burfi, let me know how it turned out.
Recipe Card
Vegan Malai Burfi (Milk Cake)- Indian Fudge Bars
Ingredients
- 6 tbsp vegan cream cheese ,kite hill plain almond works best, as fresh as possible (see note to make your own), or use 4 tbsp cream cheese and 1 tbsp non dairy cream
- 2.5 tbsp vegan butter
- 9 to 11 tbsp sugar (fine sugar) (Indian desserts are sweet. Use a tbsp or so less for less sweet)
- 1/2 cup (0.5 cup) + 1 to 2 tbsp almond flour (blanched no skin works best)
- 1 tbsp coconut flour . optional , add more almond flour if needed
- 1/2 tsp (0.5 tsp) ground cardamom
- seeds from 1 cardamom pod , crushed lightly or chopped
- 1/8 tsp (0.13 tsp) salt
- raw pistachio or almond slivers for garnish
Instructions
- Mix & Whip the cream cheese and vegan butter with a spoon, until well mixed and slightly fluffy. Add sugar and whip again.
- Add the 1/2 cup almond flour, coconut flour, cardamom, salt and mix well. Let the mixture sit for a few minutes to thicken before adding more almond flour. You want it to be just about stiff. Taste and adjust sweetness and cardamom. At this point try to not eat all of it.
- Chill for 5-10 mins, then spread the mixture on parchment. Using another parchment paper on top, even it out and make into a 1/4 inch thick rectangle.
- Chill again for 15 mins, slice and separate slices a bit. Press chopped pistachios on the slices.
- Bake at 275 degrees F for 8 to 10 mins. Let cool, then chill for another hour before serving. Store refrigerated for upto 3 days.
laura
Would Miyokos cream cheese work with this? It’s a bit tangy, so I wasn’t sure. I have a bunch of it to use so was just curious.
Richa
Use less of that cream cheese and add a fre splash of non dairy milk to compensate for the moisture
oliver
I made this for two vegan friends last night (one gluten free) and they were very happy! Thank you so much!
Vegan Richa Support
excellent, happy to hear
Richa
Yay
Freya
I can’t wait to try this recipe. I have been looking for a vegan burfi recipe for years and this seems really perfect and also pretty easy. This is great for people that don’t have a lot of energy, like me. Using the vegan cream cheese as a base and baking the bars is a lot easier than constantly stirring in a pot for 30 to 90 minutes.
Vegan Richa Support
let me know how it turns out for you.
Sam
Wow, a vegan Indian sweet that tastes better than the original with dairy. Nobody would know it’s vegan and gluten free. Great recipe! I added half the sugar and it still turned out great. I’m not sure if it’s the type of sweet but even after adding the extra tablespoons of almond flour the burfi was still really soft/semi flimsy. That said, it was still really good.
Richa
It is soft and is more handleable after chilling. Moisture content varies in the cream cheese so that might affect texture a bit as well
SUNITA HANSRAJ
Delicious! The right texture, tweaked the recipe to lesser sugar and used shop bought almond cream cheese. To those in the UK almond cream cheese called NUSH is available via Ocado
Thank you so much, was looking for a long time for a vegan burfi which tastes almost like the milk one
Easy to make
Therefore full five stars awarded by me 😀
Will be trying the penda recipe next week followed by a workout at the gym 😀
Vegan Richa Support
thanks for your info! that’s great
Ann E
Sigh!! These are delicious! I live in a small city in Canada, so Kite Hill cheese isn’t an option. Last year I asked my local health store if they could stock it, and apparently we’re not a big enough area for them to ship it here. Well, excuse us! 🤨 I went ahead and made my own almond cheese, using your recipe. I left it a bit longer than you say, but it turned out great. Other than that, I followed the recipe pretty much as you created it. Less sugar, and a bit of rosewater. Thank you for working so hard to recreate favourite treats with a vegan twist. :)))
Vegan Richa Support
thanks for popping in ♡ I’m glad that you found a way
Bharti Mukhi
I want to make vegan mawa
Richa
You can use this burfi mix minus sugar as mawa
Tex
Hello. How long should these be baked for? In the description it says 8 to 10 minutes but it also says “cook time 35 minutes”?
Vegan Richa Support
maybe you were reading the ‘chill time’ above the recipe (30 min) but def. the only cook time is 8-10 minutes in Step 5
Shilpa gupta
Any replacement for probiotic powder .
Richa
There’s none in the recipe. It’s used to make cream cheese if you want to make your own. You can also use rejuvelac or use vegan yogurt.
H
Hi, can this work with maida flour since it’s to be baked?
Richa
no, it will not work.
Anita Ramani
These were great! Some of them were too soft–so I took the suggestion of rolling them into balls and that worked nicely! Will definitely keep this recipe in my files!
Richa
awesome!
Toby
It is work Diwali tomorrow and I made this one with Sheese cream cheese without reading the part “Most other non dairy cheeses might not work in this recipe. ”
Sigh. I might serve them in spoons lol
Richa
Call it spoon fudge 🙂 Or you can roll it into balls (grease your hands before rolling) then roll into shredded coconut so they dont stick.
Vinisha
Can i use cashew butter instead of vegan butter and maple syrup instead of Sugar since i need to make it sugar free ? Please help me with the quantities .
Thank you !
Richa
it wont work with maple syrup. you can use cashew butter.
maple syrup is also sugar.
Freya
If you want to substitute regular sugar for a sweetening agent that is a little healthier, then in this recipe you need to replace the sugar with another sugar substitute. If you use a liquid sweetener like maple syrup, agave or honey here the mixture will become too liquid and too soft. What you can use as a replacement here is coconut blossom sugar, which is healthier than regular sugar. Raw cane sugar is also healthier than regular sugar but coconut sugar is healthier. If you want to use a sweetener that contains no sugars at all then perhaps you could try some erythritol. It is available in a crystal/powder form so it might just work in keeping the right consistency for this recipe. Erythritol contains no sugars and no carbs and is therefore great for anyone on a low carb/keto diet and also for diabetics. If you are simply looking for a healthier sweetener than sugar, you could just go for the coconut blossom sugar. Both erythritol and coconut sugar are more expensive then regular sugar though. If you want to choose the healthiest option for the lowest budget choose raw cane sugar or cane sugar if you are really on a budget. Those contains more nutrients than regular white sugar, which makes it a littlr healthier.
Vegan Richa Support
thanks Freya – Do leave a rating too!
Vinisha
Hi great recipe ! But is there any substitute for vegan butter as its not avaialable here .
Also , can I use extra coconut flour since i do not have almond flour ?
Great help ! Thanks.
Richa
use refined coconut oil instead of the butter.
you can make your own flour. If you have peeled almonds, then just put them in a blender with 1 tbsp cornstarch and blend and pulse until they are a fine meal like consistency. coconut flour can add a very earthy flavor, so i wouldnt use all coconut flour.
Suryakant Bajpai
Hi Richa …very keen to try this one , got the ingredients – the vegan cream cheese I got is soy and coconut based not almond based as you have used in your recipe. Its called creamy sheese. do you think it will work?
Richa
oops just found this comment in spam. it might workw. if its too tangy,try with half the amount and see.
Dyami Jasdanwala
Indian dinner night at home today so making some dessert and this worked perfectly! Super simple and so tasty.
Richa
awesome!!
Pam
I loved these and they were so easy! The hardest part was tracking the Kite Hill down with a trip to Whole Foods. I think I tried a previous recipe for something similar on your site that was a lot harder to get right. This recipe turned out perfectly!
Richa
awesome!! Yes kite hill works perfectly in these. Indian sweets are like vegan cheese, sometimes they get tricky and hard to get the right texture and flavor since i am trying to keep them close to authentic.
Ahmed
This looks so delicious and can’t wait to try and give u the feedback!
Savi
great recipe…cannot wait to try…any recommendations on which brand probiotic to use and where to buy them?
Richa
I’ve used Now brand and pb8 brand for yogurt before, they willwork here too
Amee
Thanks for the recipe. I wanted to ask if we can replace the almond flour with a different flour because of nut allergies, Thank you.
Vegan Richa Support
Ok, thank you – I definitely recommend to try this nut-free version: Vegan 7 Cup Burfi – Chickpea flour and Coconut Fudge or this lovely mango version 🥭🥭🥭 Vegan Mango Burfi. Mango Fudge Bars. Indian Recipe 🥭🥭🥭
Sherry
Oh this looks amazing! Will try it this weekend. I make your vegan kalakand all the time. I adore cardamom flavored desserts!
Richa
awesome! thanks!
VR
This looks delicious! Since going vegan I really do miss Indian sweets, I cannot wait to try this recipe out! Thank you 🙂
Richa
Yes me too. Some sweets are super tricky to get just the right texture and flavor. just like some dairy cheeses!