Thandai Poke Cake

Holi is a time when we celebrate the coming of spring with a special drink called thandai, made with a fragrant, floral powdered masala along with whole milk and sugar.

I love the flavors of ice-cold thandai. The masala mixture is a combination of various nuts, seeds, spices, and rose petals. The nuttiness is balanced with the spices, and the floral element makes it fresh. This combination lends itself wonderfully to a dessert setting, too. This poke cake is like having a cold glass of thandai—but in cake form!—and I can’t imagine it not being gobbled up by family and friends.

The following recipe has three components: the cake, the filling, and the topping. The butter-vanilla cake is sturdy enough to receive the thandai-flavored liquid to fill those holes of a poke cake, and it gets topped with a light whipped cream. The combined textures make for a delightful bite.

The thandai masala is used in all three components to really drive the flavor of the drink. It takes hardly any time to create this cake and you can easily double the recipe (cake, filling, and topping) and make it in a 9x13" pan to feed a larger crowd.

You can use store-bought thandai masala, which may be more potent, if you don’t want to make your own. Cut the amount in half or use it to taste, since all brands have different flavors and levels of intensity. If you do make my Thandai Masala, it’s quick, and you can also make a beverage to have on hand while you’re baking.