This Rava cake or Suji ka cake is a ridiculously easy recipe that even a beginner can make. Also called as semolina cake, this Eggless Recipe is made with fine rava, condensed milk, coconut, milk and flavorings. This recipe comes from the Goan cuisine and is also called as Baath cake.
Table of Contents
About This Rava Cake
There are many ways rava cake is made. This recipe is a simple, easy and one bowl cake. There is no flour used in this cake. So you don’t have to worry about your cake becoming dense or doughy.
This rava cake has a different texture and taste than cakes made with all purpose flour (maida) or whole wheat flavor. The rava cake is moist, slightly dense in texture and has a lovely aroma of coconut.
This suji cake uses fresh coconut, but you can also use desiccated coconut. Do use fine variety of rava or semolina in the recipe. A slightly coarse variety will also do, but then you may need to add some more milk to get the right batter consistency. The addition of fresh coconut gives a lovely aroma to the cake.
This recipe is easy, but there is a waiting time. All the ingredients need to be soaked and kept in the fridge for a minimum of 1 to 2 hours or overnight. Then later, you can bake the semolina cake.
This rava cake is made without eggs. Here sweetened condensed milk is used as a substitute for eggs. The recipe was requested by a few readers. So sharing the recipe. This is one of the simplest and easy cakes that one can make.
Even someone who does not have experience in cooking or baking, can easily make this suji ka cake. For beginners in baking, this is an easy recipe to begin with.
Baath cake is a specialty in Goa and sold in bakeries too. It is also known as Batega or Baathica. I have also shared recipe of Cucumber Cake from the Goan Cuisine.
I asked my sister to help me with the recipe as she makes fabulous semolina cakes, both with eggs and eggless ones. She also adds dry fruits and nuts, but I have skipped adding them. You can also decorate the sooji cake with dry fruits of your choice.
How to make Rava Cake
Prep
1. In a grinder jar, take 1.5 cups tightly packed grated coconut (120 grams).
2. Pulse or grind till the coconut becomes fine in texture. Do not add water while grinding. Keep aside.
Making Suji Cake Batter
3. Take ½ cup fine rava (barik sooji or cream of wheat or fine semolina – 95 grams rava) in a mixing bowl. The rava should be raw and not roasted.
4. Add ½ cup condensed milk.
5. Then add the ground coconut.
6. Add ½ cup milk.
7. Mix very well. The sweetness is right and perfect with the amount of condensed milk added. Do check the taste and if you want some more sweetness, you can add a few tablespoons of sugar and mix so that the sugar dissolves.
8. Lastly add 1 tablespoon rose water (3 teaspoons). Mix again. Instead of rose water, you can also add ½ teaspoon cardamom powder or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or ½ teaspoon vanilla essence.
9. Cover the pan with a lid and refrigerate for 1 to 2 hours. You can refrigerate for 7 to 8 hours or overnight.
10. I refrigerated the batter overnight. In the below photo you will see that the consistency of the batter is medium-thick but flowing.
If the batter looks very thick, then you can add some more milk. Before you bake the sooji cake, let the batter come to room temperature.
Also preheat the oven at 180 degrees Celsius/356 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 minutes, with both the top and bottom heating elements on.
11. Line a 6×6 inches cake tin with parchment paper or butter paper. You can also grease the tin with oil, butter or ghee. You can also use a 5 or 6 inches round pan.
12. After the batter comes to room temperature, add 3 tablespoons ghee. You can also use 3 tablespoons butter or coconut oil or any neutral flavored oil.
13. Stir and mix thoroughly so that the ghee is mixed evenly with the rest of the batter.
14. Then sprinkle ½ teaspoon baking powder all over the batter. Mix again very well.
15. Pour the rava cake batter into the pan. Gently shake to even the batter in the pan.
Baking Suji ka Cake
16. Keep in the preheated oven on the centre rack and bake semolina cake at 180 degrees Celsius/356 degrees fahrenheit for 35 to 45 minutes.
In my oven it took 45 minutes to bake. As temperatures varies from oven to oven, do keep a check. It can also take 30 to 40 minutes. Do note that not to overbake this rava cake.
17. Remove and check with a toothpick or a bamboo skewer. It should come out clean without any batter particles sticking to it.
18. If you see, the rava cake is done, but the top is not golden then broil for a few minutes till the top has a golden crust.
In my oven, I face this issue at times. I wanted the top to be golden and slightly crisp, so I placed the pan back in the oven (on the centre rack) and only heated the top element.
Then baked for a further 4 minutes. You have to be careful here as the browning happens fast. If in your oven, the top has got nicely golden, then obviously skip this step.
19. So here is a suji ka cake with a nice golden crust.
20. Keep the pan on a wired rack for the rava cake to cool at room temperature.
21. Once the rava cake cools, then gently remove it from the pan on a chopping board. Slice the cake and then serve.
You can refrigerate the leftovers. The cake will become dense once refrigerated. So just warm them in the oven or microwave oven and then serve.
22. Serve rava cake plain as a sweet snack or a dessert. Makes for a good tea time snack.
If you are looking for more Eggless cakes recipes then do check:
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Rava Cake | Suji ka Cake
Ingredients
- ½ cup rava fine and unroasted, (barik sooji or cream of wheat or fine semolina) – 95 grams
- 1.5 cups fresh grated coconut tightly packed – 120 grams
- ½ cup sweetened condensed milk
- ½ cup whole milk
- 1 tablespoon rose water – can add ½ teaspoon cardamom powder or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 tablespoons Ghee or butter or oil
- ½ teaspoon baking powder – levelled
Instructions
Making batter
- In a grinder jar, take fresh grated coconut.
- Pulse or grind till the coconut becomes fine in texture. Do not add water while grinding. Keep aside.
- In a mixing bowl, add fine rava, condensed milk, milk, rose water and the ground coconut.
- Mix very well. The sweetness is right and perfect with the amount of condensed milk added. Do check the taste and if you want some more sweetness, you can add a few tablespoons of sugar and mix again.
- Instead of rose water, you can also add cardamom powder or vanilla extract.
- Cover the pan with a lid and refrigerate for minimum of 1 to 2 hours or overnight or for 7 to 8 hours.
- Before you bake rava cake, let the batter come to room temperature. Also preheat oven at 180 degrees Celsius/356 degrees Fahrenheit with both the top and bottom heating elements on.
- Line a cake tin with parchment paper or butter paper. You can also grease the tin with oil, butter or ghee.
- After the batter comes to room temperature, add ghee. You can also use butter or coconut oil or any neutral flavored oil.
- Mix very well so that the ghee is evenly mixed with the batter.
- Then sprinkle baking powder all over the batter. Mix again very well.
Baking rava cake
- Pour the batter in the pan. Gently shake to even the batter in the pan.
- Keep in the preheated oven and bake for 35 to 45 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius/356 degrees Fahrenheit. As temperatures vary from oven to oven, do keep a check. It can also take 30 to 40 minutes. Do note that not to over bake this rava cake.
- Remove and check with a tooth pick or a bamboo skewer. It should come out clean without any batter particles sticking on it.
- Keep the pan on a wired rack for the cake to cool down.
- Once the cake cools down, then gently remove it from the pan on a chopping board. Slice the cake and then serve.
- You can refrigerate the leftovers. The rava cake will become dense once refrigerated. So just warm them in the oven or microwave oven and then serve.
- Serve suji ka cake plain as sweet snack or a dessert or as a tea time snack.
Nutrition Info (Approximate Values)
This Rava Cake post from the archives (December 2016) has been republished and updated on 20 September 2021.
Hi Dassana,
What is the science behind keeping it in the fridge for 7-8 hours? I am at that stage right now and was wondering. Thanks.
The rava soaks the milk and softens. Thus a result you get a nice soft texture in the cake as compared to a gritty or grainy texture. The batter cannot be kept out as it would start fermenting, so to avoid the fermentation and to help the rava soak the milk, the batter is refrigerated.
What you mean by tightly packed cups of coconut – do we press it till the point when pressing down is no longer possible? Also, I used 1 cup of condensed milk, 1 cup of milk , 2 cups of tightly packed cups of coconut and 1/2 cup of rava and still my consistency is thicker than what I see in your pictures. What did I do wrong?
Yes the coconut is pressed tightly but not very tightly. I think since you have changed the proportions and that must be the reason for the thicker consistency. In the proportions you have mentioned, the grated coconut is more and this would have contributed to a thick batter. In this case you can always add some more milk to loosen the batter. I hope this helps.
Should we use roasted rava or unroasted?
Hema, use unroasted rava.
Hi..I would be making this recipe but I need a total of 3kgs. Would multiplying this recipe by 6 times be fine and how much does the cake rise since I only have a 11X9 inch pan.
chris, this recipe will give you about 500 grams of baath cake. so for 3 kg you will need to multiply all the ingredients 6 times. this cake can be easily increased proportinately. only when adding milk, you can add some more milk. also some sugar can be added to get the right sweetness. the cake does not rise much, so you can use the pan you have.
Hi,I have one question about baati and litti.Are they different or one and the same?!….
yashwiin, they are different.
hi dassana.. can we do this in pressure cooker?
pooja, yes you can try. most probably it will work.
Made it, love it and thank you!
Welcome Geetha
Thank you. I couldn’t see your comment earlier. I will try it out. Wish you very happy and foodie New Year ?.
welcome rhea. if you refresh the page, you will be able to see the comment. wish you too a great new year.
Hi.. Am a huge fan of ur recipes.. Often I tried some of them for my son.. Bt now I want to ask you a question or might be a foolish question.. I want to know what is a better option to bake a cake microwave oven or OTG..?? Rather let me know what u r using..
thanks vaishnavi. no cooking query is foolish. feel free to ask any queries you have related to baking or cooking. personally i prefer an OTG to bake cakes and breads as the baking is even. in a microwave convection mode, the baking is quick and not very even. though a microwave convection oven bakes very well, but at times the top gets too browned. atleast this is what used to happen in the mmicrowave convection oven i was using. but for a long term baking, i would suggest an OTG.
i have stopped using microwave completely now. i don’t even use it for reheating or warming food. for baking i use bajaj 35 litre OTG.
please share dal, bati , churma recipe.
sujatha, do plan to add in some time. have already been requested by some readers and i have made a note of this.
Dear dassana thank you very much…. I was waiting for this recipe ….n one more thing recently I heard that parchment paper is not good… Its good to use unbleached paper..but I searched I m not getting… Wat type of parchment do u use…..
welcome shubha. really… i do not know about parchment paper being not good. i purchased this parchment paper from amazon. this parchment paper is not made from cellulose and is a vegetarian product – http://www.amazon.in/Oddy-Uniwraps-Parchment-Paper-baking/dp/B00UX7644Q
can i bake in mw in convection mode. I have coil in the top , not in bottom level
yes you can sujatha. just reduce the temp to 160 or 170 degrees celsius.
which oven u used for baking
tejaswi, its bajaj 35 litre OTG.
Hi Dassana… this Goan baath cake was really easy to make & delicious too.
thank you bindu. it is easy. glad you liked it.
Thank you so much for wonderful recipes. It’s an amazing collection. I just wanted to ask that in this recipe the coconut you have used is dry coconut or fresh? I think it’s dry but just wanted confirm ?.
rhea, i have used fresh coconut and not desiccated. i had grated coconut a day before and then kept in the freezer. usually i grate coconut and then freeze it in a box, so that its easy for me to use it any dish especially, chutneys or curries or as a garnish for poha etc.
Hi
I was reading comments before trying this cake, and got answer for my other question on how to store fresh coconut for longer duration.
My coconut always get spoiled when I use only half and keep rest in fridge.
But now i think I should also grate it and keep it in deep freezer to store for a longer time.
Thanks
Thanks Mahek. I grate a large coconut and keep in the freezer. It stays great for a couple of months. I am glad that the comments were helpful.
Looks great! What can I add instead of condensed milk to make it vegan? Thank you.
i have used condensed milk as an egg substitute. to make a vegan cake, you can try using aquafaba (stock of cooked chickpeas). beat it very well and then add. you can also use thick coconut milk or coconut cream instead of condensed milk. use the same proportion as mentioned in the recipe.
hi… this looks delicious… could please upload recipe of honey cake ( found in iyengar bakeries orange glace jam topped ones)
shilpa, i will try to add.