Aromatic Paan Cake…Eggless & With Wheat Flour

Aromatic Paan Cake with the flavour of Paan in each bite is sure a treat, especially for Paan Lovers. The cake uses fresh Paan bought from a Paan vendor. However, options of homemade Paan ingredients are also given. 

A cake that is made with wheat flour and without vanilla essence. And the best part is that this cake is vegan.

This is my second fusion cake. A beautiful fusion of Indian Paan with western cake. The first one was Rasmalai Cake!

For my husband’s birthday, I wanted to try out a cake with some different flavours. As he is fond of Paan, so, without giving much thought I decided to try Paan Cake and I am glad I did. 

If you are fond of Paan then do try:

• Paan Flavored Buns
• Paan Shots

After Mango Semolina Cake, I wanted to try out this Meetha Paan cake or say betel leaf cake with semolina but was not sure how would it be with Paan flavour. So, to be sure of me, I did a little experiment. Yes, I baked 2 mini Mug Paan Cakes. One with wheat flour and the other with Semolina. Mug cakes, as they get ready with just 2 tbsp flour and in 1 minute. so, that was the easiest way to check how it would taste with the recipe I had thought of.

As expected, both of them turned out very good. It was difficult to choose the better between the two!

Still, I decided to go ahead with whole wheat flour only. No specific reason, but I had to choose between the two flours so I went ahead with it.

How To Make 

Making Paan Cake is really easy if you have the readymade Paan. I made the base cake using my recipe of Vegan Chocolate Muffins with changes in flavours of course. Instead of cocoa powder, I added fresh Meetha Paan after pureeing it in the mixer. Thereafter the cake was baked. I did a blunder or say a blessing in disguise. Can you guess what? I forgot to add oil or butter. But the cake came out perfect and so was the taste.

And then it was decorated with whipped cream to which I added a pinch of green colour. 

Why You Will Love This Recipe

1. No  Vanilla Essence

And this Paan Cake has no vanilla essence added to it! Paan, itself is so flavourful then why add any other artificial essence to it? Absolutely no need! I added some mint flavoured candies (Polo) but even that can be skipped.

2. No Refined Sugar

In this cake, I used powdered rock sugar (Mishri) instead of refined sugar. As Paan itself is sweet, because of rose petal jam (Gulkand) in it, therefore, very little sugar was needed. As most of you might be knowing, rock sugar is basically a type of unrefined sugar and is easily available online too. As this cake is dominated by the gulkand aroma you can very well call it a Gulkand cake too.

3. No Oil/Butter used

Believe me, this cake is made without using any oil or butter or malai. Actually, it was not intended but I forgot to add and trust me didn’t feel any difference. Normally, when I try a recipe, then along with the pics, I jot down the ingredients too. And while writing this post, I used that noting as it is without realising that ”óil’ ís missing. Only, when one of the readers pointed out then I realised it. But it tasted awesome, not at all dry, without oil too. So, you may try it as it is or add 3 to 4 tablespoons oil along with the Paan puree.

4. No Baking Powder used

Only baking soda has been used in this cake. No baking powder is added, so please take care of this point.

5. Vegan

Paan is so aromatic and flavourful, and I didn’t want to lessen its freshness by adding milk or curd. In that case, best was to make it vegan. I have done it in the past too with Paan Shots, so did the same thing here.

6. Used Fresh Paan 

Making this cake is super easy if you have readymade Paan. And since that is easily available in our area, so I used that only. It’s the normal Meetha Paan, except that I got it made without lime and kattha. However, if you have difficulty in procuring fresh Paan then check the homemade Paan ingredients given at the end of this post.

Step By Step Recipe

• Grease a 6” cake pan and keep it aside.
• Sift wheat flour, salt and baking soda 3 to 4 times.
• Take 3 Meetha Paan in the blender along with some water (1/2 cup) and puree it.

• In a big bowl, take sifted flour, powdered rock sugar, and Paan Puree.
• Mix everything lightly, using the cut n fold method.

• Add a pinch of green colour, though optional. (Once baked, the green colour doesn’t show up prominently, so you can easily skip this)
• Add more water as it should be of ribbon consistency.
• Lastly, add vinegar. Give it a final mix.
• Put the batter in the greased baking pan.

• Start preheating the oven at 180 degrees C.
• Bake for 30 to 35 minutes till a skewer inserted comes out clean.
• After taking it out of the oven, wait for 8 to 10 minutes, until it cools down a bit, then loosen its edges using a butter knife.

• Invert it on a wire rack and let it cool down completely.
• Once cool, wrap them in cling film and keep them in the refrigerator at least for 2 to 3 hours. If possible, overnight.
• To whip cream, keep an empty bowl and beater blades in the freezer for a minimum of 15 minutes.
• Take the thawed whipping cream to the chilled bowl. Keep it on a bed of ice cubes and whip it.
• Using an electric beater, start whipping at low speed and gradually increase the speed. When soft peaks are formed, add icing sugar and a pinch of green colour.

Must-Read – Tips For Making Perfect whipped Cream

• Whip till you get stiff peaks. It will take 4 to 5 minutes.
• Keep it covered in the refrigerator till use. For more tips on making perfect whipped cream, read here.
• Dissolve Polo in 1/4 cup water.
• Take out the cake, divide it into 2 parts using a thread.
• Put 1 or 2 tablespoons of Polo mixed water on both parts. Repeat after 5 minutes. This is done to make the cake moist. The water seeps in making the cake moist and also flavourful. ( Usually, we use sugar syrup but since this is a special cake we are using mint flavoured water)
• Take the cake board. Put little cream on it. This is done so that the cake sticks there and does not move later on.
• Place the lower part of the cake on it.
• Coarsely grind 1 Meetha Paan in the grinder. Do not use any water.
• Put a dollop of whipped cream and spread it roughly covering the lower cake, then spread the Paan mixture.

• Place the other cake on the lower cake.
• Cover it with whipped cream using a spatula. This is called the crumb coat.
• Don’t try to get it smooth at this stage. Keep it in the refrigerator for at least 15 minutes.
• Take it out, again apply a coating of whipped cream.
• Once covered with cream, decorate with cream roses, tooti frutti, Paan leaf, roses etc.

• Chill it in the refrigerator.
• Serve with love.

FAQs

Q) If readymade Paan is not available?

If readymade Paan is not available then mix the following, add to the cake mix and make your very own Betel Leaf Cake:

• 3  Betel Leaves
• 2 Tbsp Rose Petal Jam (Gulkand)
• 1 tsp Fennel Seeds, Coarsely Grounded ( Saunf)
• 1/2 tsp Green Cardamom Powder
• 1/2 tsp Liquorice Powder (Mulethi)
• 1 Tsp Tutti Fruiti
• 2 tsp Desiccated Coconut
• 2 Pc Mint Candy/ 1/4 tsp Mint Essence

Q) I do not want to do the icing. Can I make a teatime cake in Paan flavour?

• Of course. Once the cake is baked, let it cool and enjoy it as it is. 

Q) How to bake it in OTG?

• I bake in microwave convection and it gets preheated quickly in about 4 minutes. If baking in OTG, then preheat it at 180 degrees C  for 15 minutes and therefore start preheating accordingly, maybe at the time of sifting the flour only.
• Bake it for 35 to 40 minutes till a skewer inserted comes out clean.

Related Recipes:

• Rasmalai Cake
• Black Forest Cake
• Number Cake
• Butterscotch Cake

Let’s Connect

I hope you have liked this recipe for Aromatic Paan Cake and will surely try it out for your loved ones.

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