This Rooh Afza milk cake brings the nostalgic flavor of the sweet syrup from our childhood Iftar tables into a delicious dessert. This quick and easy Rooh Afza cake is the perfect addition to your Ramadan table!
Rooh Afza is a staple in almost every Indian/Pakistani household. This sweet, sugary syrup has been known and loved by desi families for decades. If you grew up in a desi household, you know exactly how special Rooh Afza is.
Iftar, especially, is incomplete without an ice-cold glass of Rooh Afza; it’s the most refreshing thing after a day of fasting 😍
A little history of Rooh Afza
If you ask people where Rooh Afza originated, half will say India, while the other half will say Pakistan. It’s quite a common confusion, but here’s the actual story.
Rooh Afza was first created in 1906 by Hakim Hafiz Abdul Majeed, the founder of Hamdard. He wanted to create a drink that would help refresh people on hot summer days. After he passed away, the production of Hamdard was passed on to his two sons – Hakim Abdul Hameed and Hakim Mohammad Said.
In 1947, after the India-Pakistan partition, the older son, Hakim Abdul Hameed, stayed back in India, and the younger son, Hakim Mohammad Said, moved to Pakistan, causing Rooh Afza’s production to split between the two countries.
So technically, Rooh Afza belongs to both India and Pakistan. It’s one of those things that’s kept the people of both countries united despite the turmoil. That, and the collective love of Coke Studio Pakistan 😂 (iykyk).
PS: I learned about the history of Rooh Afza thanks to Nadir Nahdi’s video on Instagram. He is an ace storyteller, btw. If you want to learn more about the history of these regions, you must give him a follow!
Now that we’re more educated about Rooh Afza, let’s get to the milk cake.
Tres Leches Cake/ Three Milk Cake
Three milk cake, more formally known as “Tres Leches Cake”, is a Mexican cake made with 3 kinds of milk – regular full-fat, condensed, and evaporated milk. The cake itself is a soft, fluffy cake that is poured with the three-milk mixture. The sponge-like cake absorbs the milk beautifully, resulting in a soft, soaked, delicious, melt-in-the-mouth delicacy.
While the classic cake is a killer dessert on its own, recently, there have been many new renditions of it with different flavors like saffron, Biscoff, coffee, etc. I love trying milk cakes of all kinds. If there’s a milk cake on the dessert menu, you know I am ordering it. So I thought, why not give it a twist of my own?
And the moment I decided to create my flavor of milk cake, I knew it HAD to be Rooh Afza. It may seem odd to some, but my father loved having milk or sweet yogurt with Rooh Afza; I remember him enjoying it since childhood. So I knew Rooh Afza in a milk cake would be good.
And boy, was I right 🤤
This cake hits all the nostalgic notes and takes you back to childhood when a cold glass of Rooh Afza could fix all your problems. 🥲
And the best part? It’s one of the easiest desserts out there but still makes you look like you know your way around the kitchen 😏 The cake is made of 3 basic ingredients: eggs, flour, and sugar.
I’ve changed the milk mixture from the classic and replaced the evaporated milk with liquid whipping cream because it tastes better with the Rooh Afza flavor.
Okay, enough talk; let’s start with the best milk cake ever!
PS: I always measure ingredients in grams, never in cups. Using a measuring scale is the only way to bake accurately. Cups are very unreliable and can give different measurements, so I would suggest you buy a measuring scale before you start baking! If you can’t get your hands on one, you can use the online tools for converting grams into cups, however, I do not guarantee their accuracy.
PPS: if you notice a * after any word, it means that there are additional tips about it after the recipe
Rooh Afza Milk Cake
Equipment
- Hand whisk
- Electric or stand mixer
- Silicone spatula
- 6" cake pan
Ingredients
Three milk mix
- 570 ml full-fat milk
- 180-200 ml Rooh Afza (more or less based on your taste)
- 270 ml liquid whipping cream/heavy cream
- 225 ml condensed milk
Cake
- 4 eggs, separated
- 70 grams granulated sugar, split in two
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 80 grams all-purpose flour
Sweetened Whipped Cream
- 150 grams liquid whipping cream
- 50 grams icing sugar
Instructions
- Make the three milk mixture: In a bowl, heat the milk until it’s warm. Add the Rooh Afza and whisk the milk until it’s well combined. Add the liquid whipping cream and condensed milk into the Rooh Afza milk and whisk until everything is well combined570 ml full-fat milk, 180-200 ml Rooh Afza (more or less based on your taste), 270 ml liquid whipping cream/heavy cream, 225 ml condensed milk
- Preheat the oven to 180 degree Celsius. Prepare the baking pan by layering it with parchment paper or greasing with butter and flour to make sure that the cake does not stick while baking
- Separate the egg yolks from the whites and place each in different bowls.4 eggs, separated
- In the egg white bowl, add 1/2 of the sugar (35 grams) and whip on high speed with an electric/stand mixer until the mix forms stiff peaks*.70 grams granulated sugar, split in two
- Add the remaining sugar (35 grams) and vanilla essence in the egg yolks and whip on high speed with an electric/stand mixer until they become pale and creamy.1 tsp vanilla extract
- Add the egg whites and the flour into the egg yolks in three intervals, alternating after each addition. Egg whites -> flour -> egg whites. Fold the mix gently with a silicone spatula, making sure not to knock the air out of the mixture. There is no baking powder in this cake, the airiness of the egg whites is what helps the cake rise and gives it that spongey texture. If you knock a lot of air off while mixing, your cake will be flat and dense80 grams all-purpose flour
- Once everything is well combined, transfer the cake batter into the prepared baking pan and bake for 20-30 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean from the center.
- As soon as the cake comes out of the oven, poke holes into it using a fork (to help the milk soak better). While the cake is still hot, pour a generous amount of the Rooh Afza milk and let it chill for at least a few hours, ideally overnight. Don’t use all the milk, reserve some for serving
- Make the whipping cream: Add the cream and icing sugar in a bowl until the cream reaches stiff peaks and becomes stable.150 grams liquid whipping cream, 50 grams icing sugar
- When ready to serve, top it with sweetened whipped cream and serve with extra milk. Serve cold
Notes
Variations
There are endless possible variations of a milk cake. You can add any flavoring of your choice to the milk to make it your own. Here are a few options:- Saffron milk cake – infuse the saffron in the warm milk instead of the Roohafza
- Coffee milk cake – infuse whipped coffee in the warm milk
- Biscoff milk cake – infuse Lotus Biscoff spread in the warm milk
Tips & tricks:
- Stiff peaks: This term is used to describe how whipped the egg whites should be. Stiff peaks refer to fully-whipped egg whites, where when you pick your whisk up from the whites, it creates stiff, stable peaks.
- Make sure you add a generous amount of milk to the cake so that it soaks the milk well and soaks the flavor properly.
- Don’t forget to reserve some milk for serving!
This recipe is one of my favorites, I really hope you give it a try and it brings back the memories of your childhood like it does mine.
If you give it a try, don’t forget to leave a comment and review below, and share it with me on Instagram!
How does your family enjoy Roohafza? Let me know in the comments!
Until next time!
