Vegan Malai Barfi (Milk Cake)- Indian Fudge Bars. Creamy Cardamom Fudge. Dairy-free Burfi For Indian Festivals. Vegan Gluten-free Soy-free Recipe.

Every year around the festival season, memories of celebrations make their presence felt. I can’t travel that far anymore but I can celebrate with family and friends here, and enjoy all the amazing food and desserts.

Dairy is a heavily used ingredient esp in Indian desserts that are often made or bought for the festivals. So I try veganize a few of them every so often. I developed this recipe after tasting a nut based cultured cheese from Vromage sometime back. The cheese reminded me of the texture of Burfis like Kalakand and Malai Burfi. The slight tang, the dense rich flavor, minus the sugar. Being able to Veganize Indian desserts is always exciting. Its like being able to eat that favorite family cake or pie again after many years! Lets get to this homemade vegan burfi. 

There are 2 ways to make this Malai Burfi. Use almond based vegan cream cheese. I use kite hill cream cheese for this quick burfi. Or You can make your own almond cheese with peeled soaked almonds, a dash of salt, a touch of probiotic powder. Blend with just a bit of water, wrap in a cheesecloth and let it sit to drain on the counter and just about start to ferment for a few hours and use it.  You want to use the cream cheese while very fresh with a light fermented flavor. The cream cheese will keep on fermenting with time and getting tangier which will alter the flavor of this Burfi Fudge. Most other non dairy cheeses might not work in this recipe. 

This is a very simple recipe and it is so close to the dairy burfi, you will be surprised. Indian desserts tend to be very sweet traditionally and I am sticking to the traditional flavor. Indian sweets and desserts are generally served in small portions on occasion. You can reduce the sugar if you wish. This burfi also has a specific traditional flavor and texture. You can play around with the ingredients to make a creamy cardamom fudge to preference if you are not trying to stick to it.