About “Deccani Cake”

I fell in love with qubani ka meetha during the summers I spent visiting family in Hyderabad. Usually served at weddings and celebrations, qubani ka meetha is made by cooking apricots with water and sugar until it reaches a jam-like consistency. Slightly tart, qubani ka meetha is a much needed reprieve from (and I say this with love) the typical array of cloying desserts at a Hyderabadi wedding buffet.

Double ka meetha is made by frying bread in ghee until crispy, then letting the bread soften under a soak of milk or sugar syrup spiked with cardamom and rose water. The result is similar to bread pudding, but much lighter because there are no eggs in the soak. Double ka meetha was less common on wedding buffet menus from what I remember, but I still went back for seconds enough times to fall in love with this dessert too.

The idea to combine these two desserts into one came to me like an epiphany. While paging through Claire Saffitz’s What’s for Dessert, I was reading her recipe for “Roasted Red Plum & Biscoff Icebox Cake” where she roasts the plums with cinnamon and star anise. This combination of stone fruit and spices formed the loose skeleton of a recipe where I could combine qubani ka meetha (stewed apricots) and double ka meetha (with its use of cardamom) into one dessert. I initially tested this idea as an icebox cake, but I find the imposing layer cake celebrates these desserts the way I do with my memory.

Occasion

This cake is a true labor of love. Although I don’t think this recipe is particularly challenging, I still recommend setting the entire afternoon aside to make this cake: it will not come out properly if you don’t allocate enough time for the ingredients to come to room temperature. I only ever splurge for Kerrygold when I’m baking to impress, and because I recommend you do the same, I’d reserve this recipe for special occasions only.

I wouldn’t recommend making this cake for a dinner party where you’ll be meeting someone for the first time. Sadly, not everyone is a dessert person, so you run the risk of someone refusing a slice at the end of dinner. While you’re more than welcome to take that chance, I wouldn’t dare. I’d save this for an occasion like an intimate birthday dinner, where you know everyone at the table will appreciate the painstaking this recipe requires.

Elements

One of my grievances with most layer cakes is that each component rarely stands on its own; for example, an incredible frosting could sit atop a cake you wouldn’t really want to eat by itself. This wouldn’t be a problem if not for the way layer cakes are constructed: the ratio of frosting to cake fluctuates with every bite, and some bites have no frosting at all (which becomes mildly unpleasant when the cake itself isn’t anything special). I wanted to make sure that the elements of this cake work well together and on their own, so no matter the ratio, each bite would be an enjoyable one.

Apricot Filling: The filling for this cake is qubani ka meetha in its original form. I started developing this recipe by using a standard qubani ka meetha for the filling, but the larger pieces of apricot made it difficult to cut clean (and pretty) slices of cake. I then tried blending the cooked fruit and folding it into a smoother vessel, like a curd or a pastry cream, but none of these iterations ever really tasted like qubani ka meetha. I find that cutting the soaked apricots into smaller pieces before cooking produces a consistency similar to fruit preserves, which makes the cake easier to cut and avoids compromising on taste.

Brown Butter Cake: Brown butter has a slight savoriness that balances the sweetness of the overall cake, but I really use the “nutty” taste of brown butter to represent the nuts that typically garnish qubani ka meetha and double ka meetha. Nuts are an important textural element in both desserts, but I didn’t love the idea of tacking nut fragments to the frosting of this cake (it would’ve been such an annoying last step, especially for a cake as involved as this one). I find that browning the butter represents the nuts in these desserts while, somewhat serendipitously, complementing the other components of this cake quite well.

Rose-Cardamom Frosting: Double ka meetha is prepared with a custard-like soak, typically fragranced with rose water and cardamom (sometimes saffron is used, too). I don’t remember tasting saffron in any double ka meetha I’ve had, so I decided to leave it out (and if I was to choose between spending on Kerrygold or saffron for this recipe, Kerrygold is easily more worth the splurge). I tested variations of German buttercream and cream cheese frosting before landing on Sohla’s recipe for Swiss meringue buttercream and adjusting its flavor profile for this recipe. Swiss meringue buttercream is quite light compared to the other frosting varieties I tested, which I think is important to have for a cake that could easily become overbearing after a few bites.

References

Much like writing an academic paper, developing this recipe without citing my references feels dishonest. I am an amateur baker, and although a competent one, I am far from a professional who develops recipes. I referenced the work of chefs that I admire, and revisit often, to articulate my idea in the form of a recipe.

I asked my mom for her qubani ka meetha recipe as a foundation for the apricot filling, adjusting the sugar slightly to prevent the assembled cake from becoming cloying.

Translating the flavors of double ka meetha into cake layers and frosting was considerably more challenging. I relied on Sohla El-Waylly’s recipes for both the cake layers and frosting the most, adjusting each to the needs of this recipe. I charted a path through many recipes finalizing this one, all of which are cited here:

El-Waylly, Sohla. “Base Swiss Meringue Buttercream.” Start Here: Instructions for Becoming a Better Cook, Alfred A. Knopf, 2023, pp. 534–536.
El-Waylly, Sohla. “Base Yellow Cake.” Start Here: Instructions for Becoming a Better Cook, Alfred A. Knopf, 2023, pp. 530–533.
El-Waylly, Sohla. “Lemon Curd.” Start Here: Instructions for Becoming a Better Cook, Alfred A. Knopf, 2023, pp. 416–418.
El-Waylly, Sohla. “Vanilla Bean Pastry Cream.” Start Here: Instructions for Becoming a Better Cook, Alfred A. Knopf, 2023, pp. 426–429.
Saffitz, Claire. “Claire Saffitz Makes The Ultimate Coconut Layer Cake | Dessert Person” YouTube, uploaded by Claire Saffitz x Dessert Person, 10 July 2025, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaP9aVu1AkQ&t=798s.
Saffitz, Claire. “Claire Saffitz Makes Vinny’s Tiramisu-Inspired Wedding Cake (+ Eggs Giveaway) | Dessert Person” YouTube, uploaded by Claire Saffitz x Dessert Person, 23 March 2023, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3afRDvYBWTo&t=1514s
Saffitz, Claire. “Roasted Red Plum & Biscoff Icebox Cake.” What’s For Dessert: Simple Recipes for Dessert People, Clarkson Potter, 2023, pp. 39-41.
Saffitz, Claire. “Strawberry Cornmeal Layer-Cake.” Dessert Person: Recipes and Guidance for Baking with Confidence, Clarkson Potter, 2020, pp. 177–179.

Acknowledgements

Developing a recipe of my own, in earnest and so publicly, was equal parts thrilling and terrifying. I am grateful for my friends and family who never once made me feel like this was a frivolous undertaking. I’d like to thank my dad in particular— if it is possible to inherit a sweet tooth genetically, I most certainly got mine from him. Thank you for taste-testing every iteration of this cake; your stamp of approval was the blessing I needed to publish this recipe.

I would be remiss not to thank my favorite Vietnamese place here. They kept me fed and happy when I simply could not be bothered to make myself dinner after spending the entire day recipe developing. I would name the restaurant but I risk doxxing myself in doing so; I promise I’ll update this as soon as I’m able!