Dil Pasand/ Dil Khush
And it’s a happy b’day to mil :D. What can I say? I am surrounded by way too many cancerians in my life and I am not complaining. What I find very interesting though is most of these people are so very different from each other but most of them are also very very dear to me! I definitely seem to attract the right kinda cancer :D. Anywho, day before yesterday I was telling Adya that 21st is Usha paati’s b’day. His face instantly brightened and he declared that we have to bake a cake for paati’s b’day. I suggested that he could check with his paati and ask what sweet she wants made or loves the most. Adya initially set out to ask the question with a good intention but couldn’t bring himself to ask the question since he did not want a ‘sweet’ but only a ‘cake’ (In his def, sweet does not mean cake :D) and so obviously, paati had no choice there. However, I thought I should try something other than the usual chocolate cake and figured I could try dil pasand. Been wanting to give it a try since there are some huge fans of it in my family (You know who if you are reading this :)) and my mil likes any Indian bakery item. Adya was still not happy with the choice and wanted a chocolate cake. He went to my mil asked her if she likes chocolate cake and came and told me that paati is ok with chocolate cake so let’s make that :D. Did not want to disappoint Adya and did not want to disappoint myself as well ๐ and so decided to make both. Adya was super excited and kept jumping around mostly and licking the flour, dough & the batter and of course claiming to the whole house that “WE” as a team were making 2 cakes (he was super cute and super excited).
And my oh my, the dil pasand was such a huge hit. Even Adya loved it. He now calls this dil pasand ‘cake’ :). I went throught a few recipes online and decided to stick to the usual pizza base recipe and use milk instead of water in that. The filling proportions were fairly standard wherever I saw and I used only cashews for the nutty component of the filling. The tutti fruity I could lay my hands on here do not taste as nice as the ones we get back home but the filling turned out absolutely stunning too. The only thing I would differently in this dish the next time around is to try and have the filling get clumpier with a little more addition of butter. And for those of you who know my struggle with getting breads of any kind to brown on top, I am very pleased to inform you that I have cracked that code with my oven ๐ ๐ and I couldn’t be happier. I have mentioned the how part in the notes below and I would probably make a post for it for my own reference in the future and maybe it would come of help to a few others as well.
On a side note, we cut dil pasand ‘cake’ on Usha amma’s b’day eve and the chocolate cake on her b’day. It’s a lot of fun for me to see a generation that doesn’t value the b’day cake celebration mix in with the gen that associates nothing but a cake for a birthday :D. Usha amma enjoyed Adya enjoying the whole scene associated to her b’day and I enjoyed seeing usha amma enjoy seeing Adya enjoy and with this I should stop typing :D.
![](https://www.spicebuffet.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Dil-Pasand-CR5-scaled.jpg)
- 1.5 cups all purpose flour/ maida
- 1.5 tsp sugar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp instant dry yeast
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 cup warm milk
- 1/2 cup desiccated coconut
- 1/4 cup tutti fruity/ candied fruits
- 1.5 tbsp glaced cherries
- 10 nos cashews
- 2 tbsp powdered sugar
- 1/8 tsp cardamom powder
- 1.5 tbsp melted butter
- 1/2 tsp olive oil
- 1/2 tsp milk
- 1/2 tsp butter
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Take a large bowl & add 1.5c all purpose flour, 1.5t sugar, 1/4t salt, 1t instant dry yeast. Mix it all using a fork.
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Now add 2T olive oil & 1/2c warm milk.
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Mix and knead using your hand till you have a smooth pliable dough.
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Add a drizzle of oil on top & coat it all over.
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Close the bowl with a lid/ wet cloth and set it aside for an hour.
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After an hour, the dough would have doubled in its quantity.
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Prep work – Finely chop cashews and cherries.
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In a smaller bowl, place 1/2c desiccated coconut, tutti fruity, cherries, cashews, powdered sugar, cardamom powder, 1.5T melted butter.
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Mix it all up & set it aside.
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Take the dough out after an hour of resting. It should've doubled its quantity.
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Punch the air out and divide the dough into 2 equal sized balls.
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In a flat surface dust some flour & roll out one of the dough balls roughly to a 9" diameter (or to the size of whichever cake pan you are using)
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Grease the bottom of a 9" cake pan and place this flattened dough on to it.
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Spread the prepared filling on to the flattened dough leaving 1/2" of the sides free of filling (needed to seal)
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Now spread the other dough ball to a 9" diameter (similar to the first) and place it on top of the filling.
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Seal & press the ends on to the bottom dough.
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Brush with a drizzle olive oil, cover with a lid/ wet cloth and set it aside for 30 minutes.
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After 30 mins, take it out and with a knife, make an "X" slit on top. This helps with the dough to fluff up while baking.
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Bake in a preheated oven of 180c for 20 minutes.
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Take it out & brush 1/2t milk on top.
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Continue baking for another 10-15 minutes.
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Once the top browns, the dil pasand/ dil khush is ready. Take it out of the oven and smear 1/2t butter for a softer crust.
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Leave it out for it to cool. Once cool, take it out of the cake pan, cut into slices and dig in!
- You can use a mix of nuts instead of just cashews.ย
- Use candied fruits and candied/ glaced cherries.ย
- Make sure your desiccated coconut is at room temperature.
- I wanted my filling to be more clumpy so the next time around I might add a little more butter while making the filling (0.5tsp maybe).
- I have been struggling to get the top of any breads to brown and finally figured out what to do in my oven. I use a gas oven which has multiple racks. I used the top ones this time (2nd from the top to be precise). I kept the tray inside while pre heating and the preheating took longer (15 mins) but it was worth it. The crust was a gorgeous golden brown.ย
- The thickness of the crust seemed perfect for us. However, you can play around with a little more or little less thickness.ย
- You can use active dry yeast instead of instant dry yeast. 1t instant = 1 1/4t active dry yeast. So use it accordingly and oh, you will need to proof your yeast first if you are using active (one of the main reasons I prefer using instant).
Stepwise pictures
Take a large bowl & add 1.5c all purpose flour, 1.5t sugar, 1/4t salt, 1t instant dry yeast. Mix it all using a fork. Now add 2T olive oil & 1/2c warm milk. Mix and knead using your hand till you have a smooth pliable dough. Add a drizzle of oil on top & coat it all over. Close the bowl with a lid/ wet cloth and set it aside for an hour. After an hour, the dough would have doubled in its quantity. Prep work – Finely chop cashews and cherries.
In a smaller bowl, place 1/2c desiccated coconut, tutti fruity, cherries, cashews, powdered sugar, cardamom powder, 1.5T melted butter.Mix it all up & set it aside. Punch the air out and divide the dough into 2 equal sized balls.
In a flat surface dust some flour & roll out one of the dough balls roughly to a 9″ diameter (or to the size of whichever cake pan you are using).
Grease the bottom of a 9″ cake pan and place this flattened dough on to it.Spread the prepared filling on to the flattened dough leaving 1/2″ of the sides free of filling (needed to seal). Now spread the other dough ball to a 9″ diameter (similar to the first) and place it on top of the filling.
Seal & press the ends on to the bottom dough.Brush with a drizzle olive oil, cover with a lid/ wet cloth and set it aside for 30 minutes. After 30 mins, take it out and with a knife, make an “X” slit on top. This helps with the dough to fluff up while baking.
Bake in a preheated oven of 180c for 20 minutes.
Take it out & brush 1/2t milk on top.
Continue baking for another 10-15 minutes.Once the top browns, the dil pasand/ dil khush is ready. Take it out of the oven and smear 1/2t butter for a softer crust. Leave it out for it to cool. Once cool, take it out of the cake pan, cut into slices and dig in!
Another one which has been a super hit from your site. I trust you so well now that I donโt use any other site as you do the hardwork of trawling thru various things and come up with the final recipe so I am not reinventing the wheel! Well done, and thanks for a dil pasand in UK. ?
hahahah, thanks a ton Anusha :). Yup, and thanks to you I bug amma for a lot of recipes quoting ur name :D. Thenguzhal coming up next!