Sunset Cake

So I have been making Kalakand for 2-3 years now, and it has been liked by everyone, my friends and family. I made it first time as an experiment and it was a success. The only problem I face that was during curdling the milk. But with a little help from my mother I managed it.

I once made and took Kalakand to my office and just two hours into the shift it was all gone. Everybody appreciated it.

Having nailed the basic Kalakand recipe, this time I wanted to experiment again with it, and thought of adding an ingredient, which turned out to be Apple. Why Apple only? I don’t know, it just popped in my head, hence. Anyways, recipe was a success too. J

Ingredients:

For Kalakand:

1/2 kg milk in two places, total 1 kg milk, full cream

1 apple chopped

3 table spoon sugar

Few strands of saffron

2 green cardamoms

½ lime juice

For caramelised apple:

1 table spoon butter

½ inch cinnamon

½ apple, sliced into ½ cm width

2 table spoon ground sugar

Recipe:

For Kalakand:

Pour ½ kg milk in a pan. Put it on high flame and leave it boil. Just when it begins to boil and rise, add lime juice. This will curdle the milk and turn it into creamy granules form known as chhena. Drain the water out using a sieve or muslin cloth. Leave the chenna aside to drain all the excess water.

Meanwhile take the other half kg milk and put it on slow flame, add sugar, saffron and cardamom in it. When sugar has dissolved, add chhena to the milk and bring it to boil. Then put the flame on medium and let the chhena simmer in hot milk. Keep collecting the cream from the sides of the pan using a spatula. After 4-5 minutes milk will start to thicken. Add chopped apple to this and leave it to simmer. Aim is to vaporise the milk completely, so that all that left is creamy apple and chhena. When milk has almost vanished mash the apple chunks with the back of spatula so that everything comes together. When milk has vaporised fully, leaving just a little, Kalakand is ready.

For Caramelised apple:

Add butter in pan on low flame, let it melt, then add cinnamon stick and give it a stir. Add apple slices. When slices have softened add sugar powder and gently move the pan. Do not stir. When sugar has turned brown, give the pan a toss so that apples are covered completely in caramel. It’s ready.

Plating or Presentation:

In a round bowl, spread the caramelised apple slices in the bottom, over which layer the Kalakand and press it so that everything is compact. Leave it this way for minute then turn it over on a plate, your Kalakand cake is ready to munch on. J

Note:

Try experimenting it using some other fruit. However use non citrus ones only.