7 cup burfi | 7 cup cake

7 cup burfi recipe made with gram flour, sugar, ghee, coconut and milk. This cardamom flavored 7 cups sweet is a true festive delight that your whole family will love! Make it for a festive occasion, celebration or just when the cravings kick in for something sweet, really special and awesome. My step-by-step picture guide will help you master the technique of making this amazing goodness!

If you are a South Indian, I am sure you would have come across this treat a lot of times in weddings, celebrations, religious occasions like puja, baby showers etc.

But if you are new to this, you may be wondering what it is?

About 7 cup burfi

7 cup burfi is a traditional South Indian sweet (fudge) made with 7 cups of ingredients like gram flour, sugar, ghee, milk, cardamom powder and coconut. It is also known as 7 cup cake or 7 cups sweet.

The traditional recipe uses 1 cup/measure each of flour, ghee, milk and coconut along with 3 cups of sugar, which sums up to 7 cups. Hence the name.

The best thing about this recipe is that you can use any cup or bowl to measure your ingredients. It need not be a standard cup like a 240 ml or 250 ml cup.

Gram flour is the most widely used flour in the preparation of this sweet. But you will also find some versions using maida (all-purpose flour) or a combination of maida and semolina.

My mom would make numerous versions with this base 7 cup burfi recipe. She would use gram flour, rava, maida and even dried coconut (copra). Every version turns out so good and taste so different from the other. I have shared a similar recipe made with semolina here – Rava burfi.

My recipe

My recipe will give you 7 cup burfi that tastes very close to the traditional Mysore pak but with an additional taste & aroma of coconut. Using the traditional recipe, the burfi turns out overly sweetened and that’s how it is made.

So the recipe I shared here is a modified/ improvised version that has lesser sugar and am sure you will all love this. I have made this for so many years and have been gradually reducing the quantity of sugar to achieve that perfection. The 3 parts of sugar in the recipe is reduced to 2 parts. So you can also call this a 6 cup sweet.

This recipe will give you 7 cup burfi that is super delicious, melts in your mouth & the top layer has a slight crunch like the traditional Mysore pak. If you like to make a soft set burfi, follow my notes below.

The best part about this recipe is you don’t need to make sugar syrup or check the consistency. So it is simply a dump and go recipe.

Making 7 cups burfi is a bit of arm work since you have to continuously stir the heavy mixture. If you have weak arms and really cannot handle heavy mixture then please do not attempt this recipe.

You can also check this complete collection of over 100 diwali recipes.

For more Barfi recipes you can check
Coconut barfi
Rava burfi
Badam barfi
Chocolate burfi
Almond barfi with jaggery
Mawa burfi

How to make 7 cup burfi

Preparation

1. Grease a tray or an aluminium foil to pour the mixture. You can also use a parchment paper. Set this aside.
2. Grease a knife and set aside.
3. You can also add tiny chunks of cashews or pistachios to this, if you like to use, chop them and keep them ready.
4. Do read the notes mentioned in the recipe card if you like to try the recipe.

Let us start (step by step photos)

1. Measure ½ cup ghee and melt it in a heavy bottom pan. Set aside. We will need hot ghee later.

2. Add ½ cup besan to a heavy bottom pan and begin to roast on a medium low flame. Keep stirring and roast it until fragrant. Do not let it brown. Keep stirring constantly. You don’t need to brown or roast it a lot like we do for besan ladoo. This step will take about 4 to 5 mins. Once it begins to smell good and aromatic, move to the next step.

3. Add ½ cup coconut or cashew powder and mix well. You can use fresh or desiccated coconut.

Tip: To make cashew powder you can just pulse ½ cup cashews in a mixer to a coarse powder. Measure the powder and add it. Do not blend at a stretch otherwise it will release oil.

4. Lower the flame and roast for 2 to 3 minutes. Again do not let the flour discolor.

5. Add 1 cup sugar.

6. Pour ½ cup milk.

7. Pour ¼ cup ghee from the melted ghee.

8. Mix well. Put on the flame to medium. The sugar melts and the mixture turns gooey. Keep stirring from here to the end without interrupting else the mixture gets burnt.

It takes around 10 to 12 minutes for the mixture to reach the final stage, but do not go by the time. Just for an approximation I mentioned it.

9. After few minutes, you will see the mixture begins to bubble. Continue stirring.

10. Add cardamom powder. Continue to stir and cook until the mixture thickens.

11. When you see the consistency of the mixture thickens, add ¼ cup hot ghee. Preferably hot this time to get a porous texture. If the ghee you heated up is not hot, heat it up again before adding.

If you want a soft burfi then you can add ghee just as it is. Stir well again for the mixture to absorb the ghee.

12. You will find the mixture begins to leave the sides of the pan. But still quite runny. Continue to cook. Be attentive as it is going to reach the final stage. Adjust the flame if needed.

13. The mixture thickens and you can see lot of pores (bubbles) in the mixture. The mixture completely leaves the sides now and becomes heavy. It becomes a mass. If you cook past this stage, burfi will break or become powder.

Setting burfi

14. Quickly pour the mixture to a greased tray. Level it with a greased flat spatula or a cup or bowl. While the 7 cup cake is still hot, draw lines carefully with a greased knife. After a while, cut them deeply with a knife. When it cools down completely , cut them to pieces.

I doubled the recipe so I got many pieces. Store 7 cup burfi in a air tight jar. When it cools completely the color lightens.

Pro Tips

1. Choose good quality besan (gram flour). Taste the flour first & then use it. Store bought gram flour goes rancid too fast & tastes bitter. If you have a flour mill near by then you can also mill chana dal.
2. I have used fresh coconut in the recipe. You can also use the same amount of desiccated coconut or cashew or almond powder. To make the nut powder simply pulse them in a spice jar or blender. Do not over blend as the nuts release oils.
3. My mom always made 7 cups burfi that has a slight crunch like the traditional Mysore pak. That is the texture the recipe yields. Pouring hot ghee to the bubbling mixture will give that texture.
4. To make a soft set burfi, just use ghee at room temperature.
5. You can also garnish the 7 cup cake with some finely sliced almonds and cashews.

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