Victoria Ras Malai by Antony Amourdoux

For the sponge

Preheat the oven to 200'c/180'c Fan. Sift the flour, baking soda and cardamom powder together. In hand-held mixer or stand mixer cream the butter and sugar together to a light foam. To this light foam add the vanilla essence and eggs. Tip: add a few spoons of the sifted flour when you add the eggs, so the mixture doesn’t split

Fold in the remaining flour and mix until combined. Grease and flour 7 inch round baking tin and pour the batter in, bake at for 25 mins.

For the Ras Malai (Custard)

In a heavy bottom pan, boil the milk and cream. Soak few strands of saffron in a tablespoon of warm milk and set aside

Once the milk comes to a boil, lower the flame and continue to stir the milk at regular intervals. After ~10 mins add sugar and mix. After ~25 mins the milk will thicken to desired consistency, add soaked saffron and crushed cardamom.

For the Rasberry Chantilly:

Add the heavy whipping cream, powdered sugar, raspberry powder and vanilla extract to a large mixer bowl and whip until stiff peaks form. It will happen fairly quickly so keep a close eye and don’t over whip it. Transfer to a piping bag and return to the fridge until the sponges have cooled down.

For the assembly:

Assemble your cake by placing the sponge into a large dish then poured the Ras Malai around it and sprinkled the saffron and dried raspberry pieces on top. 

 

Pipe the chantilly in concentric circles, working from the outside in, using a round Wilton 2A tip.

Chill in the refrigerator overnight or for 5-6 hours. Garnish with chopped pistachios and few saffron strands before serving