Eggless Thandai cupcakes for Holi, with saffron and elaichi powder.The cupcakes are topped with cream cheese icing and sprinkled with colored sugar to represent mounds of gulaal/color.

Its the perfect fusion dessert that combines the flavors of the traditional drink ‘Thandai’ with the cupcakes. The cupcakes look colorful and attractive covered in colored sugar. For those not familiar with Holi, here is an interesting write up by Culturetrip.com. To find out the dates that Holi is celebrated in your city or country, click on this link by Drikpanchang.com.

The traditional meal eaten at home on Holi,after playing with colors is Rasedaar Aloo with hot,fluffy crisp Dal ki puris, Kheer(in a crockpot), Dahi Gujiyas and lots of Thandai. If you are looking to make some some quick easy desserts without spending too much time in the kitchen then try out my famous Kalakand which is made in minutes in the microwave, Instant Shahi Tukra, Instant Rabri and Badaam ki Barfi with almond flour.

I have tried to form peaks with the icing to make the cupcakes look like piles of colour. You can just enjoy them plain, use colored sprinkes or colored sugar like I did. The colored sugar is readily available in the baking/cake decorating aisle in all grocery stores. The cupcakes turn out very soft and moist and can be made a day ahead. Here is a glimpse of how soft the cupcake turned out. The cupcakes had a lovely,soft yellow color from the saffron.

Moving on to the recipe-

Here is the written recipe followed by the pictorial one-

Thandai Cupcakes-Eggless

Aanchal Gupta

Eggless cupcakes for Holi,flavored with Thandai mix, saffron and elaichi powder.The cupcakes are topped with cream cheese icing and sprinkled with colored sugar to represent mounds of gulaal/color.

Print Recipe

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 20

Total Time 35

Servings mini cupcakes

Ingredients

for cupcakes

1 1/2 cup plus 3 tbsp All Purpose Flour APF/Maida
3/4 cup Thandai Mix Concentrated form, available in a bottle
1 cup warm water
6 tbsp odorless oil I used canola oil
1 tbsp white vinegar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp Green cardamom powder/choti elaichi powder
1 tsp warm milk for soaking saffron(use water for vegan option)

for Cream Cheese Icing

1 8 oz/227 gms block of cream cheese at room temperature
4 tbsp/56 gms/2 ounce/1/4 cup of Unsalted Butter
2 cups Confectioners Sugar more if you like it sweeter
1 tsp vanilla extract

for decorating

Colored sugar

Instructions

For Cupcakes

Preheat oven to 350F
Warm 1 tsp milk in microwave and soak a few strands of saffron in in
In cupcake pan, place liners or grease and flour
Sieve the flour with baking soda,salt and elaichi powder, twice
Add Thandai mix, water,saffron and oil and mix well(batter should be thin and runny)
Add vinegar and mix well
Use a scoop to fill the liners 3/4 full
Tap the cupcake pan a few times on the countertop to remove any air pockets
Bake in the middle rack of the oven for 15-20 minutes or till a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean
Cool completely before frosting

For Cream Cheese Icing

Beat butter and cream cheese on low speed till blended, keep scraping sides of bowl.
Add vanilla extract and mix well on medium speed.
Keeping the beater on low setting, keep adding confectioner sugar, a little at a time till all of the sugar is incorporated. Keep scraping sides of bowl.
Continue to mix on medium speed for an additional 2-3 minutes till fluffy and the icing holds its shape. Add more sugar if needed to stiffen icing,1/4 cup at a time.
Use a 1M Wilton tip and fill 1/2 the icing bag.
Put icing in fridge for 15-30 minutes before icing cupcakes
Put icing in a way that it represents a mound of gulaal/color, that is give it height instead of a rosette shape
Sprinkle colored sugar over icing

Notes

We dont add any sugar to the batter as the Thandai Mix concentrate has sugar in it. Since every thandai mix is different, do a taste test, if sugar seems less, add a few more tablespoons of thandai mix.

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Here is the step by step pictorial recipe-

Ingredients