Milk cake which is traditionally made with milk, alum(fitkari) ,sugar and ghee can also be made with paneer(cottage cheese) , Khoya(milk solids), sugar and ghee. Both methods give the same taste and texture. Just the latter is faster than the previous.
I first got introduced to it in my Grandma’s place(nani) during my summer vacation. My mom used to say that we will cut milk-cake for nani’s birthday and that this is the best among all cakes. At that time, didn’t quite realize the sweetness of it. But as time passed and memories rooted in mind , I realized the happy moments spent together with my Late Nani.
Today I will share an easy recipe for all those who love kalakand or milk-cake but dare not try it. Yes here we can use store bought mawa and paneer too for it ,though I have used home-made mawa and paneer.

INGREDIENTS:
1. Khoya or Mawa grated or crumbled (Milk solids) – 2 cups
2. Paneer (cottage cheese) – 2 cups
3. Sugar – 1 cup
4. Ghee(Clarified Butter ) – 2 tsp
5. Milk – ¹⁄₄ cup
6. Saffron strands dissolved in warm water – 2 tbsp (for garnishing)

METHOD:
| Cooking time : 10 mins | Setting time : 4 hrs | Makes about 20-25 medium size pieces|

1. Take a heavy bottom pan or wok(kadhai). Add milk and khoya to it. Stir them well to break the khoya and allow it to melt.
   

2. Meanwhile add the paneer and sugar and let them all dissolve and stir them vigorously on medium- low heat to avoid sticking at the bottom. Also add ghee to accelerate the heating process and to help retain the heat in.
   

3. When the color of the mixture changes slightly brown and you see the particles getting formed in it turn off the heat. Here I would like to add that if you feel that your mixture will get burnt ,you may turn it off, or just reduce the heat to lowest and keep let it turn into a mass which leaves the sides of the wok.
   

4. Grease a deep steel pan (bhigona) or any flat deep bowl, deep cake tray with some ghee.
   

5. Pout the hot mixture in the pan and let it sit on the coutner -top or cooled surface for about an hour.
   

6. When the surface of the top completely dries up ,keep it in the refrigerator and cool it for at-least 2 hrs.
   

7. The cooling helps to cut out straight lines without any difficulty. Now make vertical and horizontal lines throughout to form a cuboid shaped sweet. Since I used a shallow cake pan, the milk-cake I made didn’t quite have the same 3-layered texture where a dark layer is sandwiched between two light layers of the same mixture. The reason is that the top and bottom layer of the milk-cake will cool rapidly as compared to the center layer since the pan is deep and is not a heavy bottomed pan.
   

8. After cutting the pieces turn them on side and garnish them with saffron water or pistachios .
   

9. This sweet stays fresh for a week and can be stored in refrigerator for 2 weeks .