Vegan Rasmalai Cake is a dairy-free spin on the popular Bengali Dessert rasmalai that is typically served for Diwali! Moist almond and cashew flour cake squares immersed in a rich and creamy cashew pistachio “milk” scented with saffron and cardamom. It basically is Vegan Malai burfi soaked in Ras malai milk! Soyfree Glutenfree Jump to Recipe
Diwali is coming up and that means Boxes of sweets and desserts being whipped up to share and celebrate. A festival that celebrates a win of goodness, knowledge, kindness over negativity. This Diwali we need that magic. This vegan Ras Malai Cake is a simple dairy-free spin on one of the most delicious Indian sweets out there – the traditional Bengali Dessert Ras Malai / Rasmalai.
What is Rasmalai?
Bengali Rasmalai consists of small soft cheese curd/paneer balls or cakes immersed in saffron and cardamom-scented sweetened thickened milk. This Indian dessert is usually served with plenty of chopped pistachios and as you can imagine, it’s a pretty popular dessert for the holidays!
Vegan Rasmalai Cake – the perfect Diwali treat
Vegan version of rasmalai is tricky. The chewy cheese balls are hard to mimic with non dairy cheeses. I have a soy based version in my cookbook. That is chewy and cheesy and almost perfect, but has a slight soy after taste. Today I bring you this variation. This Vegan Ras Malai Cake consists of a moist vegan nut cake which is like malai burfi/milk cake immersed into a rich sweetened cashew pistachio cream. We make the burfi cake, we pour cream on top, we let the cake soak up some of that goodness and it’s ready to serve. No fuss, no stress! The flavors of rasmalai all come from the amazing malai cream sauce and satisfy that ras malai craving.
More Vegan Diwali Recipes From The Blog:
- Almond Halwa, 2ways and Almond Ladoo GF
- Malai Burfi GF
- Basundi
- 7 Cup Burfi – GF, Nutfree
- Malai Ladoo
- Brown Rice Kheer
- Gajar Halwa, skillet, Instant pot
- Gulab Jamuns
- Easy Kaju Katli
Some Savories
Rasmalai is a decadent Indian treat served for special occasions like weddings or for Diwali. Due to its richness, it’s not an everyday kind of dessert – which doesn’t mean it’s overly difficult to make – and this vegan version is even easier. You can whip this Vegan Rasmalai Cake up pretty effortlessly and you’ll even find it quite relaxing during the stressful holiday season.
The cake absorbs the sauce flavors and thickens the sauce over time. Chilling this dessert overnight gives the best texture and flavor. The ingredients used are for speficifc reasons and unfortunately not substitute-able. A generous sprinkle of chopped pistachios is about all the decoration this vegan Diwali dessert needs and it will still look super appetizing and inviting with that smooth and rich cashew pistachio sauce hugging the moist vegan cake squares.
You can form the cake mix into balls. Chill for half an hour then shape and bake in the stoneware dish then soak in the milk sauce.
Recipe Card
Vegan Rasmalai Cake
Ingredients
For the Malai (The milk sauce)
- 1/2 cup (64.5 g) raw cashews
- 1 tbsp raw pistachios about 6-7
- 1 cup (236.59 ml) water Use scant cup
- 3 -4 strands of saffron
- 5-6 tbsp sugar I used half cane and half powdered sugar so that it doesn't add color to the sauce.
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1 cardamom pod,seeds
For the Malai Cake:
- 1/2 cup (64.5 g) raw cashews Use a heaping cup
- 1 tbsp cornstarch or tapioca starch
- 1 (1 pod) cardamom pod seeds
- 3-4 saffron strands
- 1/2 cup (56 g) almond flour
- 1 big pinch of salt
- 3 tbsp vegan cream cheese I use kite hill plain
- 2 tsp (9.86 g) vegan butter or use oil
- 1/4 cup (30 g) powdered sugar
For Garnish:
- 1 tbsp almond slivers
- 1 tbsp chopped raw pistachios
Instructions
For the Milk:
- Soak the cashews and pistachios overnight, or at least 4 hours. Then drain well and add to a blender along with the rest of the ingredients, and blend until the mixture is really smooth. It will look like milk, and that's okay. Taste and adjust Sweet and set aside.
For the Malai Cake:
- You want to convert the cashews into a flour, so add the cashews, cardamom, cornstarch, and saffron in a blender, and blend for 15 seconds, then start pulsing every few seconds. Use a spoon to move the mixture around so there are no cashews lurking in the corners, and pulse a couple of times more until the mixture is a fine meal. If there are any cashew pieces left, remove them, or try to pulse them in by pulsing a couple more times, and then remove any remaining large cashew pieces from the mixture.
- Transfer to a bowl, add the almond flour, salt, cream cheese, butter, and sugar and mix. Press and mix with a spatula, or use your hands to make a dough.
- Grease a shallow baking dish, and press this dough onto the dish into a square or rectangle, less than half an inch thick, and even out the edges. You can wet your hands before doing that so that it's not as sticky, or use oil on your hands.
- Bake at 275 degrees F (135 C) with the fan on(convection) for 25-30 minutes, or until the mixture feels completely dry on top, and has lightened in color. You can also use regular bake if you don’t have convection
- Take the pan out and let it cool for 10-15 minutes, then slice the cake into an inch or inch and a half big squares, and slightly separate it out. The center will feel very soft, so separate out only if it's not breaking into pieces.
- Pour the entire sauce mixture all over to submerge the cake.
- Garnish with pistachios and almond slivers, and let this mixture chill for at least a few hours before serving
Notes
- cream cheese substitute: use 1.5 to 2 tbsp of vegan yogurt or use cashew cream (blended soaked cashews )
- For a budget version, skip the saffron and add a drop of vanilla to the cake.
- To make this refined sugar-free you can use coconut sugar, but it will result in a darker sauce and cake.
- Want to make this even prettier? Sprinkle some dried culinary rose petals on top.
- You could also add a small amount of rose water to the milk sauce if you're a fan of rose-scented desserts.
- If not the whole thing, just make the cashew pistachio milk! Serve in small bowls garnished with almonds and pistachios.
- For a Tres Leches cake version, make my white cake with 1/4 tsp cardamom, make the rasmalai milk with 3/4 cup of water. Soak the cake in the milk. Top with whipped coconut cream and pistachios
Nutrition
Rasmalai Cake Ingredients:
- The vegan milk sauce is made from soaked pistachios and cashews.
- We incorporate that signature Rasmalai flavor into the milk sauce by adding some cardamom and saffron. I use cardamon seeds from green cardamon pods. these give the best flavor
- A bit of sugar is necessary to sweeten the sauce – I use a mix of light icing sugar for color mixed with a bit of cane sugar for depth of flavor.
- The rasmalai cake part consists of almond flour and homemade cashew flour, all flavored with saffron and cardamom.
- A bit of cornstarch helps bind the cake batter while a blend of vegan butter and vegan cream cheese add moistness and a bit of tang.
- The vegan cream cheese gives it a special zing. Don’t skip it – remember that the cake part is supposed to mimic paneer cheese/Chenna. You can use plain vegan yogurt instead , use half the amount of cream cheese listed
Tips & Variations:
- For a budget version, skip the saffron
- If you want to make this refined sugar-free you can use coconut sugar, but it will result in a darker sauce and cake.
- Want to make this even prettier? Sprinkle some dried culinary rose petals on top.
- You could also add a small amount of rose water to the milk sauce if you’re a fan of rose-scented desserts.
How to make Ras Malai Cake:
Make the milk sauce:
Soak the cashews and pistachios overnight, or at least 2-4 hours. Then drain and add to a blender along with the rest of the ingredients, and blend until the mixture is really smooth. It will look like thin milk, and that’s okay. Set aside.
Make the rasmalai cake:
You want to convert the cashews into flour. So add the cashews, cardamom, cornstarch, and saffron into a blender, and blend for 15 seconds, then start pulsing every few seconds.
Use a spoon to move the mixture around so there are no cashews lurking in the corners, and pulse a couple of times more until the mixture is a fine meal.
If there are any cashew pieces left, remove them, or try to pulse them in by pulsing a couple more times, and then remove any remaining large cashew pieces from the mixture.
Transfer to a bowl, add the almond flour, salt, cream cheese, and butter, and mix. Press and mix with a spatula, or use your hands to make a dough.
Grease a shallow baking dish, and press this dough onto the dish into a square or rectangle, less than half an inch thick, and even out the edges. You can wet your hands before doing that so that it’s not as sticky, or use oil on your hands.
Bake at 275 degrees Fahrenheit with the fan on for 25-30 minutes, or until the mixture feels completely dry on top and has lightened in color.
Take the pan out of the oven and let it cool for 10-15 minutes, then slice the vegan rasmalai cake into an inch or inch and a half big squares, and slightly separate the pieces. The center of the cake will feel very soft, so separate out only if it’s not breaking into pieces.
Pour the entire sauce mixture all over to fully submerge the rasmalai cake.
Garnish the rasmalai cake with pistachios and almond slivers, and let this mixture chill for at least a few hours before serving.
How to store Rasmalai Cake:
If you make this rasmalai cake in advance, store the cake in an air-tight container in the fridge for upto 3 days. The milk sauce will thicken over time
Mona
This looks amazing! I’m making not it this week. Could a plant based milk (oat, almond,etc) be used instead of water for the “milk” part of the recipe?
Richa
Yes
R
So delicious! Enjoyed by everyone and very reminiscent of ras malai flavours with a barfi/Mithai mouth feel!
Vegan Richa Support
yay! thank you!
Jharnaa
Hi Richa
Your recipe looks very interesting 🙂
As someone who is trying to reduce dairy consumption, I’d love to try it out!
I had a question regarding the Malai Cake – I noticed that the list of ingredients does not mention any raising agents like vinegar, baking soda or baking powder.
Would this affect the softness/sponginess of the Rasmalai?
I’d hate to end up with something too dense, as I’m a fan of soft and fluffy Rasmalai
What do you recommend?
Richa
As I mentioned in the post, this isn’t exactly Rasmalai. It’s more like a Malai Burfi soaked in the Rasmalai milk. It’s difficult to get the soft spongy balls with nuts. Try my raw malai tres leches cake for soft cake type dessert. Or try the balls version from my Indian kitchen book that uses soy milk to make the Chenna and then balls. I am a super taster so I can taste the flavor difference in those balls. Texture is spongy. But you might be ok witb the flavor difference there.
The other suggestion is to make bread malai. Just make the ras malai milk because that is divine (everyone vegan or non vegan just drinks that up) and soak from white bread in it for an hour and serve.
AmbalaCakes
Very nice recipe Richa
Vegan Richa Support
thanks for popping in
Ashumi Shah
M thinking of adding a little coconut condensed milk and less sugar. Thoughts?
Richa
It will throw off both the texture and flavor.
Krupa
I’ve made this about 3 time already since I discovered the recipe late last year. Love it!! So simple and yummy. Loved by vegans and non vegans. I love rasmalai and missed it when I became vegan. This hits that spot!
Vegan Richa Support
wow – 3 times. great
Preeti
Just so delicious and decadent – hadnt eaten rasmalai in years once I became vegan – was incredible to introduce my kids to the flavor of this much loved Indian dish
Vegan Richa Support
that’s great!
Ami M
Hi! Would roasted cashews work instead of raw ones?
Vegan Richa Support
yes =)
Jessie
Hey Richa, can you give your opinion on if ground cardamom would work as a substitute in this recipe?? Looking forward to making it!
Richa
it will work. Use 1/4 tsp for 1 pod.
JP
Is it okay to use ground cardamom instead? Can’t find the seeds at the store.
Vegan Richa Support
yes you can – they have the same flavor profile but it won’t be as profound and will still turn out lovely. One cardamom pod is the equivalent of 1/6 teaspoon of ground cardamom
Urmila
Dear Richa, this recipe turned out i-forgot-about-everything-else level good. Just 5 stars doesn’t make any justice. Kudos!!
I made two tweaks:
1. The recipe was a little too sweet for my taste, so easy-peasy reduced the amount of sugar by half
2. I made cookies instead of cake, which turned out in my favor because I left it a little too long and they turned a little hard. Would have been difficult to cut them later.
Richa
Awesome
Purva Joshi
Such a beautiful recipe. I am so stunned how close in taste it is to the actual rasmalai. I won the hearts of vegetarian who aren’t fans of veganizing traditional Indian desserts.
Richa
Awesome! Happy Diwali!
Brandi
I baked my cake last night for at least 40 minutes, and the top looked great and had lightened in color and dried up just as the directions said. But after cutting it and trying to take a piece out to check the consistency, the top looks good but the layer under that is still goo. Is this how it’s supposed to be? And is there anything I can do to fix it? Thanks in advance!
Brandi
I’m really struggling to find affordable raw pistachios. Is there a different nut I could sub with, or even some coconut milk?
Richa
You can use more cashews. I use pistachios for the traditional flavor profile. You can use other nuts , it just will be slightly different than what the rasmalai profile should be, but tasty Any which way
LCV in Vermont
Probably a silly question, but do I use just the seeds from the cardamom pod or the whole pod?
Thank you.
Linda
Richa
Not a silly question. you want to use just the black seeds. And discard the green outer leaves. You can use the outer leaves in making chai tea. Because they still have flavor 🙂
LCV in Vermont
Thank you!
myrna
Hi Richa,
For the malai cake, you said did not mention when to add the powdered sugar in the instructions?
Please advise.
Thank you for the great recipe! I am planning to make it tonight for a pre diwali potluck.
Richa
Oops, add at the same time as almond flour butter etc
Nandini R
Hi can I substitute vegan cream cheese with anything else?
Richa
Yes, use half the amount of vegan yogurt or make a cashew cream and use. Blend 1/2 cup soaked cashews with 1/2 cup water.
Nandini R
I tried it out and it came out amazing:)
Richa
Awesome!!!
Nandini R
Hi…I don’t have access to the cream cheese. What can I substitute it with?
Sumita
Hi Richa,
Can the almond flour be substituted with some other flour. I am Gluten and Almond intolerant.
Richa
Use more cashews
mary
Wow, that’s absolutely beautiful and sounds delicious with all those gorgeous spices:)
Bozu
When I saw this magnificent delight, I wanted to realize it. This is easy because there is no animal milk! This treat, will delight everyone here.
I am happy to have found your site which is wonderful and full of richness. Happy Festival of Lights for you and yours, and also for the whole world, which is in great need of it in this troubled time.
Vegan Richa Support
Exactly. Thank you so much for your comments and best wishes to you as well.
Rani
Hi dear Richa , you are really good, amazing version of rasmalai, I’ll make for Diwali. Thank you so much
Happy Diwali and have a wonderful Diwali day and all the best always take care regards
Richa
Thank you Rani! Happy Diwali to you too