Eggless Mawa Cake recipe with step by step photos. An Indian Mawa Cake that’s flavored with milk and cardamom and topped with nuts. It’s delicious and perfect with a cup of tea.
This Mother’s Day I decided to bake a simple cake without frosting for my mother-in-law, just the way she likes it. Just like my mom, my mother-in-law is not a fan of cakes with frosting on top. My Eggless Mawa Cake is perfect for Mother’s Day or an Afternoon Tea Party.
What is Mawa Cake?
Mawa is khoya which is dried milk. Essentially, if you were to simmer whole milk for a while, the mixture would eventually turn into milk solids. Since the entire process is time-consuming, a simple solution is to buy mawa/khoya from your local desi grocery store.
Indian Mawa Cake is flavored with milk and cardamom, and then topped with nuts. For this Eggless Mawa Cake, simply crumble the store-bought mawa and add it to the creamed butter and sugar mixture as seen below.
Eggless Mawa Cake is:
Delicious
Simple
Rich
An Eggless Dessert
Perfect for Afternoon Tea Cake
Yummy with Tea
Ideal for Mother’s Day
Ideal for a Tea Party
How to make Eggless Mawa Cake recipe step by step?
Prep
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Butter an 8-inch springform pan.
3. Set aside the dry ingredients in a medium-size bowl… flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cardamom.
Prepare the Batter
1. Using an electric hand blender, in a large bowl mix the softened butter until creamy.
2. Add the sugar to the creamed butter, blend for a couple of minutes until the butter and sugar form a creamy mixture.
3. Like so.
4. Add the vanilla extract and mawa/khoya. Blend for about a minute until all the ingredients are well combined.
5. Now add all the dry ingredients. Blend for about 30 seconds until the flour has incorporated into the butter-sugar mixture. The batter should be crumbly.
6. Add the milk and yogurt. Using a spatula, fold the milk and yogurt into the flour mixture. DO NOT MIX, FOLD THE MIXTURE.
7. Pour the batter into the springform pan. Top with chopped nuts.
8. Into the oven for 45-55 minutes. I baked my Mawa Cake for exactly 52 minutes.
9. Enjoy with a cup of tea!

Eggless Mawa Cake
Eggless, Vegetarian.Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 3/4 tsp ground cardamom
Wet Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup mawa/khoya
- 3/4 cup whole milk
- 1/4 cup low-fat yogurt
Garnish
- 1 tbsp pistachios chopped
- 1 tbsp cashews chopped
- 4 almonds chopped
Instructions
Prep
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Butter an 8-inch springform pan.
- Set aside the dry ingredients... flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cardamom.
Prepare the Batter
- Using an electric hand blender, mix the softened butter until creamy.
- Add the sugar to the creamed butter, blend for a couple of minutes until the butter and sugar form a creamy mixture.
- Like so.
- Add the vanilla extract and mawa/khoya. Blend for about a minute until all the ingredients are well combined.
- Now add all the dry ingredients. Blend for about 30 seconds until the flour has incorporated into the butter-sugar mixture. The batter should be crumbly.
- Add the milk and yogurt. Using a spatula, fold the milk and yogurt into the flour mixture. DO NOT MIX, FOLD THE MIXTURE.
- Pour the batter into the springform pan. Top with chopped nuts.
- Into the oven for 45-55 minutes. I baked my Mawa Cake for exactly 52 minutes.
Made the mawa cake, turned out delicious 😋 !! The recipe is very good, it will make a perfect cake if followed correctly. You can’t go wrong with this!
Beautiful cake Nisha. A family favorite for us:)
Awesome Recipe Nisha.
Tried it today and my son loveddd it 😍
Followed exactly as mentioned above. It came out to be perfect, delicious, and Everyone loved it!!
I tried making the mawa cake and it turned out to be sooooo yummy and rich in flavors. Thank you so much for sharing💕
Nisha’s Mawa Cake recipe is amazing!!! I made it last night and everyone loved it even my husband who’s hard to please with desserts. Perfectly sweetened and moist!!!
Followed exactly like the recipe except the spring foam pan, still it turned out so great and delish!! This was a family hit.
Awesome tea time cake with perfect sweetness n texture.. reminded me of the cake my granddad used to bake.
What happens if you use full fat yogurt instead of low fat? Excited to try this!
Hi Bhavika – it’ll make no difference. I just used low-fat cuz that’s what I had on hand. It’ll be great with full-fat too. 🙂
Hope you try it.
I have a question, do we add the dry fruits as a garnish or while we put the cake to bake, as it may roast them and they might even get slightly burned?
Hi. The dry nuts are added on top of the cake before it is baked. No need to roast them.
I have step by step pictures for my recipes so you can see the picture in step #7.
Hope that helps!
Is yogurt necessary ? n is D cup measurement 200gms ?
Khoya in grams?
Hi Sabina – yogurt is necessary. not sure what you mean by D cup measurement?
1 cup khoya in grams is 200 to 225 (gms). So 3/4 cup would be about 150 grams to 175 grams.
Hi Nisha. Are you able to sub the whole milk with 2%? Thank you!
Absolutely. Makes no difference. 🙂
Most amazing recipe and a staple in my house and all the relatives I have shared with. Love! Love! Love! The way milk cake turns out.
Find me on Instagram @ poonzbee 🥰
Best cake I have ever had! This recipe was amazing.
I made your eggless Mawa cake today using your recipe and one gluten free version!! Both the cakes came out perfect!!! Thank you! Please keep sharing your awesome recipes!
Omg this was simple to make and is so yummy and a crowd favorite. Will definitely be making this again.
I want to make this cake on my husband’s birthday on 3rd April . I have a few questions about the recipe
Can I substitute butter with oil
I already have some left over khoya from the gujiyas I made for Holi . Can I use that? How to store left over khoya
Hope you will reply
Thank you
Happy Holi
Hi – no you can’t substitute butter with oil. The butter helps in generating an airy cake. Not sure how to store khoya – my guess is in the fridge – it’s dairy so wrap it well as you would normally handle cheese. Yes, you can use the leftover khoya if it’s still good and will last until April 3. Hope that helps. send me a pic on Instagram @honeywhatscooking. 🙂