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Mawa Cake
🥄 Prep: 15 min
🔥 Cook: 10 min
🍽 Serves: 2 servings
A tender, aromatic Mawa Cake made with real ingredients that feed your soul and delight your senses.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Step into the warm, fragrant world of Mawa Cake, a beloved Indian bakery classic that wraps you in the rich creaminess of khoya and the gentle perfume of cardamom with every single bite. This recipe from Bake With Neetu brings that nostalgic street-side bakery magic straight into your own kitchen, baked with love and a few beautiful wholesome ingredients.
Mawa, also known as khoya, is a powerhouse of natural protein and calcium that nourishes your body the way real food always should. Paired with the antioxidant warmth of green cardamom and the wholesome goodness of eggs and dry fruits, this cake is a treat you can feel genuinely good about enjoying.
- ✅ Mawa or khoya is packed with natural protein and calcium, giving this cake a rich nutritional foundation without any artificial supplements.
- ✅ Green cardamom is a powerful digestive spice loaded with antioxidants that also adds a beautifully fragrant depth to every crumb of this cake.
- ✅ Dry fruits bring in healthy fats, natural sweetness, and a satisfying crunch that make each slice more nourishing and texturally exciting.
- ✅ This cake skips refined extras and lets real whole ingredients do all the heavy lifting, staying true to the Bake With Neetu philosophy of honest, wholesome baking.
Ingredients You’ll Need
(Full measurements in the recipe card below)
DRY
- • 1+1/4 cup maida — base structure
- • 1/2 tsp baking powder — lift
- • pinch of salt — balance
- • 6-7 cardamom pods, crushed — classic flavour
WET AND MAIN
- • 100g mawa/khoya — rich, milky core
- • 6 tbsp unsalted butter — moisture and crumb
- • 1 cup milk — binds batter
- • 2 eggs — structure
- • handful dry fruits — texture and sweetness
Substitutions
| Ingredient | Swap |
|---|---|
| eggs | 2 tbsp yogurt plus 1/2 tsp vinegar per egg for eggless |
| maida | oat flour for lighter option |
| mawa | ricotta cheese drained well |
How to Make It — Step by Step
Prep Mawa
Crumble mawa into a bowl and mash with softened butter until smooth and lump free.
Mix Wet
Beat eggs into the mawa butter mix, then pour in milk and stir until combined.
Add Dry
Sift maida, baking powder, salt and cardamom into the wet mix. Fold gently, do not overmix.
Fold and Rest
Fold in dry fruits, then rest batter 10 minutes. Pour into a greased 6 inch tin.
Bake
Bake at 180C for 35 to 40 minutes until a skewer comes out clean. Cool before slicing.
Tips for the Best Result
Fresh mawa or khoya gives the cake a rich, creamy texture. If your mawa is dry, crumble it well and mix it with a tablespoon of warm milk before adding it to the batter.
Once you add the flour, fold gently until just combined. Overmixing develops gluten and results in a dense, tough cake instead of a soft and tender crumb.
Lightly toast the cardamom pods before grinding them to release their full aroma. Freshly ground cardamom makes a noticeable difference in the final flavor of the cake.
How to Store
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, you can replace each egg with 3 tablespoons of yogurt or a flax egg made with 1 tablespoon of ground flaxseed and 3 tablespoons of water.
You can find mawa at most Indian grocery stores in the dairy section, or you can make it at home by simmering full fat milk until it thickens and reduces to a solid.
Yes, you can use whole wheat flour for a slightly denser, nuttier cake, though the texture will differ from the original version made with maida.
Cashews, almonds, pistachios, and golden raisins all work beautifully and complement the mawa and cardamom flavors very well.
Nutrition Per Serving
| Nutrient | Per Serving (2 servings) |
|---|---|
| Calories | — |
| Protein | — |
| Carbohydrates | — |
| Fiber | — |
| Fat | — |
| Sugar | — |
Estimates only — values vary with exact brands used.
Ingredients
- → 1+1/4 cup of maida/flour
- → 100 grams Mawa or khoya
- → 6 tbsp of unsalted butter
- → 1 cup of milk
- → Hand full of dry fruits
- → 6-7 green cardamom pods
- → 1/2 tsp baking powder
- → Pinch of salt
- → 2 eggs
Instructions
- 1. Crumble mawa into a bowl and mash with softened butter until smooth and lump free.
- 2. Beat eggs into the mawa butter mix, then pour in milk and stir until combined.
- 3. Sift maida, baking powder, salt and cardamom into the wet mix. Fold gently, do not overmix.
- 4. Fold in dry fruits, then rest batter 10 minutes. Pour into a greased 6 inch tin.
- 5. Bake at 180C for 35 to 40 minutes until a skewer comes out clean. Cool before slicing.
▶ Watch Me Make It
See every step in action.
MasterChef India contestant turned healthy baking creator. I specialise in eggless, no-oven, and gluten free recipes made with real ingredients — no protein powder, no shortcuts. Subscribe on YouTube for a new recipe every week!
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Give this beautiful Mawa Cake a try and let the aroma of cardamom and khoya fill your kitchen with warmth. When you bake it, share your creation on Instagram and tag @bakewithneetu so Neetu can celebrate your bake with you.
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