Phyllo Cardamom Cake Cups pastry is very crisp, the sugar syrup soaked cake is soft and juicy and together they make an amazing dessert.
This dessert is a complete fusion dessert combining filo pastry, Indian cardamom cake and the sugar syrup soaking of the baklava. When I got phyllo/filo pastry, I was having a riot of ideas and this cake cups won the race, lol.
How to plan for parties
If you have the readymade pastry sheets, this phyllo pastry recipe takes very little time to assemble and bake. If making for parties, you can layer the pastry sheets, cut and place them in disposable liners one or two days before the event. Make the batter on the day and bake it and serve it fresh. You will definitely surprise all your guests.
How to use frozen phyllo/ filo pastry
You get phyllo pastry as frozen in many super markets. Here is how to use them. Phyllo pastry is extremely thin and so will easily tear. They also dry out pretty fast. So you need to follow set of instructions while using them. Let me list them out in order.
Always thaw the pastry for 24 hours in fridge. Do not thaw them at room temperature. The sudden condensation will make the sheets stick together.
Once it is thawed, remove it out of fridge and use immediately. Before opening the package, keep some towels ready. Remove the required quantity of sheets and place them between towels so that they don’t dry out.
Be gentle while removing individual sheets. They tend to stick at the sides. But gentle peeling will help removing them without any damage. Dried out sheets will lose flexibility and will crack easily.
Use a pastry brush to brush the layers with butter or melted ghee, whichever the recipe asks for.
I made twelve portions with six pastry sheets. It was just perfect. If you are trying homemade, then, you need to slice it into rectangles and use the remaining for other recipes. As the sheets are paper thin, they resemble paper once baked.
The cardamom cake batter is made with chiroti rava or fine sooji. If you couldn’t get it, grind the regular rava in mixer grinder before using. It will make the cake less crumbly. It will also give you the perfect texture in the final cake.
An important note for you if you are trying this for party – Make them fresh. The pastry won’t stay crisp the next day, because of the cake and syrup. When I made them, I had to store them for a day for distribution. The next day, the pastry was so soft, and both hubby’s colleagues and Sruti’s friends thought that it was paper liner. So don’t store this. Finish it off the day you make it.
Phyllo Cardamom Cake Cups Demonstration
I also made a small video to post in Instagram. Check it out and if you are not yet following my account, do it. I always share my day to day baking experiments there.
If you are new to using phyllo pastry sheets, then here is a small video to help you with basic details. Let me know if you find this useful!
Super pretty, Isn’t it?
I also made some Nightingale’s nest/ BÜLBÜL YUVASI with the remaining sheets. Click on the image to know how to make it.
Phyllo Cardamom Cake Cups Recipe
Ingredients
For the phyllo cups
- 6 Sheets Phyllo pastry
- 100 ml Melted ghee
For the cake batter
- 150 gm Chiroti Rava / Fine sooji
- 50 gm Maida/ All-purpose Flour
- 50 gm Sugar
- 1.5 tsp Baking Powder
- ¼ tsp Cardamom Powder
- 150 ml Milk
- 100 ml Ghee
- 50 ml Curd/ Yogurt
- Rose Essence a few drops
- Slivered Almonds
For the sugar syrup
- 100 gm Sugar
- 100 ml Water
- Rose Essence a few drops
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180C.
- Spread one pastry sheet and apply melted ghee evenly on it.
- Carefully place the next sheet on top. Apply ghee.
- Repeat it until all the pastry sheets are used up.
- Cut the sheet into 12 equal portions. Three cuts lengthwise and two cuts width wise.
- Take one part and press it into muffin tin’s cup. Repeat with the remaining portions.
- Once you have pressed all the twelve moulds with pastry, it is time to make the batter.
- In a bowl, combine semolina, flour, sugar, baking powder and cardamom powder and mix well.
- Add ghee, milk, curd and rose essence and mix well to form thick batter.
- Divide the batter between twelve phyllo pastry cups.
- Add slivered almonds on top.
- Bake it in the preheated oven for 20-30 minutes or until the pastry is crisp and golden.
- By the time the cake is baking, mix together sugar, water and bring it to boil. Add rose essence and allow it to cool down.
- Take the cake cups out of the oven.
- Pour the cooled syrup on top of the cake evenly. The cake will absorb the syrup immediately.
- Set it aside until the cake cups cools down completely.
- Serve it immediately.
