I’m thrilled to have a regular week.  There’s something about a regular routine that is comforting.  At least for me.  Menopause has made my brain a bit forgetful.  So, the routine helps me remember what I’m supposed to be doing.  I can tell that when things are out of routine, I forget things.  Every trip this year, I forgot things.  Not something that was no big deal.  Something major, like the clothing I planned to wear.  That happened more than once.  If it kept going, I was going to have a new wardrobe by the end of the year.  At least for the last trip I only forgot the tops to my breakfast containers.  Not so bad, but it just meant I had to be very careful how I transferred them.

This week’s recipe just sounded plain interesting.  This is a milk-based recipe.  That is easy to swap.  When I did the initial calculations, the calorie count was sky high.  The recipe I am starting with is from Love Food for Ras Malai Cake.  This cake has Bengali flavors.  The calories come from the copious amounts of sugar, butter, and nuts.  I know we can reduce the first two.  This recipe calls for edible flowers.  I don’t know if I can find those, but if I can’t, the cake will be just as good.  It just won’t be as pretty.

Here are the original stats:

Here’s what I changed:

• I replaced the butter in the cake with unsweetened applesauce to reduce the saturated fat, sodium and calories.
• I replaced the sugar with the sweetener equivalent to reduce the carbs.
• I replaced the flour with almond and coconut flours to reduce the carbs.
• I replaced the powdered milk and water with coconut milk to remove the dairy.
• I replaced the milk with coconut milk to remove the dairy
• I replaced the icing sugar with its sweetener equivalent to reduce the carbs.
• I skipped the flowers because they are hard to find.

Here are the updated stats:

Here is the final recipe:

Lower Carb Ras Malai Cake

Serves 10

For the cake

• 10 strands of saffron, dropped into 4 tablespoons of warm coconut milk
• 250 g unsweetened applesauce
• 250 g granulated sweetener
• 5 medium eggs, beaten
• 6.6 oz almond flour
• 2.2 oz coconut flour
• 4 tsp baking powder

For the milk drizzle

• 150 ml warm coconut milk
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom

For the buttercream

• 2 cardamom pods, crushed
• 3 tbsp coconut milk
• 300 g unsalted butter, softened
• 600 g icing sweetener, sifted

To decorate

• 100 g roughly chopped pistachios plus edible rose petals

1. Preheat the oven to 338°F. Grease and line two 8in cake pans.
2. Make the saffron milk. Place the applesauce and sweetener in a bowl and whisk until combined. Add the eggs a little at a time, making sure to keep whisking. Then add the flour, baking powder and saffron milk, and fold the mixture until you have a smooth, shiny batter.
3. Divide the mixture between the two tins and level the tops. Bake for 20–25 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, make the milk drizzle by mixing the milk ands the ground cardamom seeds and mix.
5. As soon as the cakes are out of the oven, drizzle some of the milk all over the top of both cakes and leave in the tin for at least 10 minutes before turning them out and removing them to cool on a rack.
6. To make the buttercream, put the crushed cardamom pods in a small bowl of the milk and leave to infuse.
7. Meanwhile, put the butter into a mixing bowl and whisk until very soft and light in colour. Add the icing sweetner a little at a time, whisking after each addition, until all combined.
8. When the cardamom milk is ready, pour through a sieve into the buttercream and whisk until really light and fluffy.
9. Once the cakes are totally cool, place one cake on your serving dish and spread an even layer of buttercream over it.
10.  Put the other cake on top. Flip the cake over so the milk drizzle top becomes the bottom and sandwiches the buttercream. Spread some buttercream evenly across the top and the sides and use a ruler to level off the edges.
11.  If you have any cream left over you can pipe little kisses on top. Then gently take the pistachios and press them into the bottom edge of the cake.