• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Mirchi Tales logo
  • Pakistani Recipes
  • Pantry Guide
  • Recipe Index
  • About
menu icon
go to homepage
  • Pakistani Recipes
  • Pantry Guide
  • Recipe Index
  • About
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
  • search icon
    Homepage link
    • Pakistani Recipes
    • Pantry Guide
    • Recipe Index
    • About
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
  • ×
    Mirchi Tales » Recipes

    How to make cake rusk | Cake rusk recipe

    Published: Aug 13, 2021 · Modified: Aug 13, 2021 by Kiran

    Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

    Cake rusk is a crunchy dry biscuit and a popular teatime snack in India and Pakistan. Similar to biscotti, these crispy biscuits are perfect for dunking in your tea. Read on ahead to learn how to make cake rusk at home.

    Jump to Recipe

    What is cake rusk?

    Cake rusk is a type of dry biscuit and a popular teatime snack in India and Pakistan. It is also known as just rusk, or papay. Since cake rusk is crunchy and dry, the traditional way to eat it is by dunking it in tea / chai till the cake rusk turns soft. This is why cake rusk and chai go perfectly together, and people usually have rusk either for breakfast or evening tea (aka shaam ki chai!). There are many varieties of cake rusk available at the supermarket, and at local bakeries as well. Some are plain, some are flavoured, some are sugar free, and some are sweetened. Once you start making cake rusk at home, you will forget about the supermarket versions.

    Cake rusk is similar to Italian biscotti with a few differences. In biscotti, a biscuit style dough is made and shaped into logs, which are ‘twice baked’ to result in crispy crunchy biscuits that are usually dunked in coffee. Cake rusk is also ‘twice baked’, but instead of biscuit dough, cake is used.The first step to making cake rusk is making a cake. The cake is then cut into logs, and then baked again resulting in the distinctive crunchy crispy cake rusk.

    Pound cut cut into slices laid out on a parchment paper on a baking tray.
    Cake cut into slices, ready to go in the oven to be turned into cake rusk.

    How to make cake rusk?

    Cake rusk is traditionally made by making a cake from scratch. However, you can use cake mix if you don’t have time. Or if you have leftover pound cake at home, you can also use it to make cake rusk.

    • Making the cake: Making cake rusk is super simple and doesn’t require any special equipment. Just a wire whisk or a wooden spoon, and a little bit of muscle to mix everything together. The first step to make cake rusk is to make the cake batter. Start off with creaming butter and sugar together, then adding eggs. Sift over the flour, and then add vanilla along with cardamom powder to flavour the cake. You can also yellow food colouring to enhance the colour of the cake rusk.
    • Cool and cut the cake: Once the cake has been baked, let it cool. Then cut it into logs.
    • Twice bake the cake: Bake the cake slices again till they are crunchy and golden brown. The cake slices are baked on a lower temperature and for a longer time so that they can dry out and have that distinctive crisp cake rusk exterior.
    • Dunk in chai and enjoy: Once the cake rusk, dunk them in a cup of chai and enjoy!
    A pile of cake rusk placed on parchment paper. In the back are two glasses filled with tea, and a milk jug along with a few pink artificial flowers.

    Cake rusk - storage tips:

    As the cake rusk have been dried, their storage life increases. Once the cake rusk has cooled, they can be kept in an airtight container for about 2 weeks. If they last that long, that is!

    Some other Pakistani and Indian snack recipes that are perfect with chai are as follows:

    1. Aloo Pakoras (Potato fritters)
    2. Paneer Tikka Sandwich
    3. Potato and Chicken Croquettes
    4. Keema Samosa
    5. Chicken Box Patties
    6. Vegetable patties (Spicy potato puff pastry)
    7. Masala French fries

    Would love it if you could try out and rate the recipe, and let me know how it was in the comments below! 

    To keep updated with recipes, stories and so much more follow me on Facebook and Instagram

    📖 Recipe

    A pile of cake rusk on parchment paper. At the back are two cups of tea, and one of the cups of tea has a cake rusk placed on the saucer.
    Print Recipe
    5 from 3 votes

    How to make cake rusk | Cake rusk recipe

    Cake rusk is a crunchy dry biscuit and a popular teatime snack in India and Pakistan. Similar to biscotti, these crispy biscuits are perfect for dunking in your tea. Read on ahead to learn how to make cake rusk at home.
    Prep Time20 minutes mins
    Cook Time1 hour hr 50 minutes mins
    Total Time2 hours hrs 10 minutes mins
    Course: Afternoon Tea, Chai
    Cuisine: Indian, North Indian, Pakistani
    Servings: 6 people
    Calories: 150kcal
    Author: Kiran

    Ingredients

    • 1 cup / 120g all-purpose flour
    • ½ cup /100g sugar
    • ½ cup / 65g butter room temperature
    • 3 eggs room temperature
    • 1 teaspoon baking powder
    • ½ teaspoon vanilla essence
    • ¼ teaspoon cardamom powder
    • Pinch of yellow colour
    • Pinch of salt

    Instructions

    Make the cake:

    • Preheat oven to 180 C / 350 F (160 fan forced). Line an 8-inch square baking tin with parchment paper and grease sides with oil. If an 8-inch square baking pan isn’t available, you can use a 7-inch square pan, or an 8-inch round pan.
    • Sift flour, baking powder and salt together in a medium sized bowl.
    • In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until fluffy and pale in colour. This can be done with a wire whisk or an electric hand mixer.
    • Add eggs one at a time, whisking after each addition. If using an electric hand mixer, whisk for about 20 seconds, and is using a regular whisk, mix until combined. Once the eggs have been added, mix in the vanilla essence.
    • Add the flour mixture, and fold through with a spatula. Add the food colour (if using), and gently fold it through.
    • Pour the cake batter into the prepared greased pan. Bake for 30 – 35 minutes, or until a toothpick or skewer inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean.
    • Let the cake sit in the tin for around 10 minutes, and then turn it into a cooling rack to cool completely. Place the cooled cake on a chopping board and use a sharp knife to cut the cake down the middle, and then into ¼ inch strips. These strips can then be cut into smaller cake strips.

    Make the cake rusk:

    • Preheat oven to 150 C / 300 F (130 fan forced).
    • Place the cake strips on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Place the cake strips in the oven and bake for 15 – 20 minutes until golden brown on the top. Turn the cake strips over, and bake for another 15 – 20 minutes until golden brown and crisp.
    • Remove the cake rusk from the oven, and place on a wire rack to cool. Once the cake rusk has cooled, it can be stored in an airtight conainter for around 2 weeks.
    • Serve cake rusk with tea / chai.

    Nutrition

    Calories: 150kcal
    Tried this Recipe? Tag me Today!Mention @MirchiTales or tag #mirchitales!

    More Recipes

    • A bowl of roasted ground cumin with a spoon, on a white plate.
      How to make Roasted Ground Cumin (Bhuna Zeera)
    • A bowl of chaat masala with a spoon in it, on a white plate.
      Homemade Chaat Masala (Quick & Easy)
    • A plate with mash ki daal in it, with a spoon next to it.
      Mash ki Daal (Urad Daal) – Instant Pot and Stove Top
    • Chicken malai tikka skewers on a white serving plate.
      Chicken Malai Tikka – Malai Boti

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Leena says

      November 08, 2021 at 7:04 pm

      5 stars
      I love chai papay.

      Reply
    5 from 3 votes (2 ratings without comment)

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Recipe Rating




    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

    Primary Sidebar

    Hi, I'm Kiran!

    Welcome to my kitchen. Here you will find Pakistani and Indian recipes along with delicious tea time desserts. I am all about putting a modern twist to traditional South Asian recipes for the contemporary kitchen.

    More about me →

    Ramadan Recipes

    • Two bowls of chana chaat, with one bowl having a spoon in it.
      Chana Chaat
    • A meal planner that will help you plan your meals in Ramadan. Plus there is a FREE sample menu guideline for sehri/suhoor, iftar and dinner.
      Ramadan meal planner + FREE sehri and iftar menu
    • A plate of lentil fritters with yoghurt, with more fritters on the side.
      Mash ki daal kay dahi baray | Lentil fritters in yoghurt | Dahi bhallay
    • A bowl of chaat masala with a spoon in it, on a white plate.
      Homemade Chaat Masala (Quick & Easy)
    • A mound of air fryer pakoras with coriander on top. Behind the air fryer pakoras is green chili sauce, and tomato ketchup.
      Air fryer pakora | No fry pakora | Healthy onion pakora
    • An image with the text 'Ramadan Food Preparation Guide. Prepare for Suhoor and Iftar in Advance'. On the back of the text is a collage of 9 pictures of iftar and suhoor snacks which includes shami kebabs, pakoras, green chutney, chaat, fried onions, and vegetable puff patties.
      Ramadan Food Preparation Guide with Recipes – How to prepare in advance for Suhoor, Iftar and Dinner
    • A golden bowl with imli or tamarind chutney in it.
      Imli Chutney w/o Dates (Tamarind Chutney)
    • A bowl of cilantro chutney with mint in a bowl, with a small spoon in it.
      Cilantro Chutney with Mint (Hari Chutney) | Green Chutney

    Popular Recipes

    • Kaali daal or khari masoor ki daal is a popular Pakistani lentil recipe made with black gram lentils. It can be served with chawal (rice) or roti.
      Kaali daal or khari masoor ki daal | Black gram lentils
    • A bowl full of Pakistani keema aloo topped with coriander leaves.
      Pakistani aloo keema | Ground mince with potato curry
    • Similar to a pilaf, aloo ki tahari or spiced potato rice is a Pakistani / Indian vegetarian dish made with rice and potatoes. Other vegetables can be used but the most popular are potatoes. 
      Aloo ki Tahari or Aloo Chawal | Spiced Potato Rice
    • So this isn’t exactly a recipe but a super simple delicious hack that turns frozen parathas into crispy flaky puri style paratha! Just the thing to have for breakfast with chai.  Follow my step by step tutorial on how to make frozen paratha in an air fryer! 
      Air fryer paratha | How to make frozen paratha in an air fryer

    Footer

    ↑ back to top

    Privacy Policy

    Copyright © 2021 Mirchi Tales

    Rate This Recipe

    Your vote:




    A rating is required
    A name is required
    An email is required

    Recipe Ratings without Comment

    Something went wrong. Please try again.