Honey cake with honey butter cream frosting is an outstanding yum cake with the perfect not so sweet frosting. The best aspect of this cake and the frosting is that no sugar is used. No sugar! .... its the perfect pleasure to indulge in. Honey is the only sweetener used in preparing the cake and the frosting. The cake tastes very similar to the honey cake we get in Kerala bakeries. It is super soft and moist. The cake is baked without adding any sugar and once the cake is cooled, prick holes and a prepared honey syrup is poured all over the cake. The honey syrup will absorbed into the cake and gives a wonderful sweetness.

​The frosting recipe is originally from here. The frosting is really fluffy and yum with the perfect amount of sweetness. I am not a big fan of store bought frosting and making perfect peaks in buttercream frosting is something that I have yet to master. But this honey butter frosting came out really perfect in the first try itself. All thanks to Jacqueline from deeprootsathome.com.

​Makes 8 inch square cake
​Cooking time : 2 hours

Ingredients

​ For the cake

Butter ( room temperature) - 1/2 cup
​All purpose Flour - 1 cup​
Baking powder - 1 teaspoon
​Egg - 2 no:
Vanilla essence - 1 teaspoon
Milk - 2 tablespoon

For the honey syrup

​Raw honey - 3/4 cup
Water - 1/2 cup
​Rose water - 1 teaspoon

For the frosting

Milk - 1 cup
​Arrowroot powder or flour - 1/4 cup
​Butter ( softened) - 1 cup
Honey - 1/2 cup
 Vanilla essence - 1 teaspoon
​Salt - 1/4 teaspoon

Method

​1.  Prepare a baking tin with parchment paper.
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2. Sift together all purpose flour and baking powder.
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3. Preheat the oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit.
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4. Beat the butter till creamy and light.
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5. Add egg one after the other and beat well.

6. Add vanilla essence and mix well.
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7. Add milk and mix till a smooth batter.
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8. Pour in prepared cake tin and bake at 335 degree Fahrenheit for 35 - 40 minutes or when a skewer comes out clean when inserted.
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9. Allow the cake to completely cooled before unmolding.

​ For the honey syrup

​10. Boil water, honey and vanilla essence in a pan. Boil till a syrup consistency.

​11. Prick holes all over the cake and pour over the cake till all the syrup is absorbed by the cake.

12. Refrigerate the cake.

For the frosting

​1. Boil milk in a pan and add the arrowroot powder. Cook over medium heat until it thickens. Then take off the heat and cool. Once cooled beat until smooth.

​2.  In another bowl beat the butter for approximately 5 minutes.

​3. Then add honey and beat again for 5 minutes.

​4. Add the arrowroot powder/ milk mixture and beat well.

​5. Add vanilla essence and salt and mix well.

​6. Pour the frosting in a zip lock and refrigerate. The frosting holds and spreads well once its cooled.

​7. Finally spread on the cake and enjoy chilled.

​​The decoration on the cake is dessicated coconut mixed with blue food coloring​

​Ras Malai is a dessert quite famous in India and Pakistan. Ras Malai can be best described ass a rich cheese cake without a crust. Ras Malai is quite famous in Bengal and is known as Ros-Malai. Here it is mango rasmalai.
​       Mango is the king of fruits and it tastes good in almost anything. This dessrt can be served in any occasion and is best served chilled. Normally I make rasmalai in three steps i.e first make paneer or chenna, then rasgulla and then rasmalai. This is  afool proof method and had never failed me. Although the recipes for home made paneer, Rasgulla are here, I am going to put out the whole recipe once again ( for the ease of reading). The recipe for plain ras malai is here

Preparation time - 2 hours
​Serves - 3 - 4

Ingredients

For the Ras Malai patties

Whole milk - 5 cups
​Lemon juice - 2 table spoon
Maida / All purpose flour - 1/3 teaspoon
Rava / Semolina - 1/3 teaspoon
​Finely chopped nuts - 1/2 cup ( optional)

For the sugar syrup

Sugar - 1 1/2 cups
Water - 1 1/2 cup
​Rose water - 1 teaspoon

For the Milk mixture

Whole milk - 3 cups
Mango puree ( fresh) - 1/2 cup
Sugar - 2 1/2 table spoon
Cardamom powder - 1 teaspoon
Sliced almond - 1 table spoon ( for garnishing)

Method

1. Make paneer : Boil the milk in a heavy bottomed over medium-high heat, stirring frequently making sure milk do not burn on the bottom of the pan. As the milk comes to a boil, add the lemon juice slowly and stir the milk gently.
  #      The curd will start separating, immediately turn off the heat.       
​ #       Drain it using a cheesecloth or muslin cloth. To take out the excess water squeeze the cloth. Now  paneer is ready.   

​2. To make the patties : knead the paneer for 3-4 minutes until the paneer is almost rolls into smooth soft dough.  
 #    Add rava, all purpose flour and chopped nuts (optional) to the paneer and Knead it by dragging the palm of your hard on the paneer. #   Divide the dough into equal parts and roll them into smooth balls or flat disc.

​3. Make sugar syrup by boiling sugar and water together till all the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is lightly thick.

​4. Then add the patties to the sugar syrup and let it boil for 10 - 15 minutes.They will expand to about double in the volume while cooking in the syrup.

5. For the milk mixture : Boil the milk in a pan on medium heat until the milk reduce to about 1 and 1/2 cups. Add the cardamom and mix in.

6. Make sure to frequently stir the milk as the milk burns easily in bottom of the pan. Add the sugar and the Rasmalai patties ( squeezed from the sugar syrup) in milk. Let it cook for few minutes. After few minutes, remove it from the stove and let it cool for some times.

​7. Add the Mango puree with the ras malai and mix it. Refrigerate it for few hours.

​8. Garnish with sliced almonds. Serve the Ras malai chilled.