Kingly Kalakand

When I first had milk-cake (cake version of kalakand) as a ten-year old, my first question was "why is it called that? neither does it have frosting, nor is it milk!". Ten-year olds are so dumb! No offense to any other ten-year old before my nieces and nephews start complaining :)

When I read Sandeepa from Bong Mom's Cookbook had a microwave version of the Kalakand, I just had to try it. R's sweet-tooth has always been a major encouraging factor for me to learn new Indian desserts. Just like his niece who has been born and raised here does not treat Indian desserts as desserts, R does not like western desserts like cakes and ice-cream. It has to be an Indian dessert to pass off and be accepted by his enormous sweet appetite..how selective :( His dislike for cakes and ice-cream is A blessing for me in disguise, to be frank! Else by now, I could have easily passed off as a master Sumo wrestler, I am pretty sure of that..

Ingredients Makes 20 pieces

Sweet Condensed Milk - 1 can
Ricotta Cheese - approx. 2 lb
Cardamom Powder - 2 tbsp
Sliced nuts for garnishing

• Lightly grease a microwaveable bowl with ghee.


• Mix the condensed milk with Ricotta cheese, both of which are 1:1 by volume. Make sure to press the ricotta cheese into the condensed milk can. Otherwise, you will have more liquid in your mixture and it just takes forever to make..trust me, it feels like FOREVER! Add the ground cardamom powder to this mixture and start the microwave ride..


• Microwave for 5 minutes. Take caution such that the above mixture does not boil over in the process.


• Stir the mixture well and microwave again for 5 minutes. If the mixture starts rising to spill over, stop and stir before commencing again.


• Microwave for another 5 to 10 minutes, as required. Usually done between 15 to 20 minutes.


• Keep aside to cool so that it can solidify a little to be able to cut into managable pieces.


• Garnish with saffron and\or nuts, as per taste.