This decadent 7 cup burfi (also known as 7 cups sweet and 7 cup cake) is a tasty fudge-like sweet made with 7 measures of ingredients. All you need is gram flour, grated coconut, milk, ghee and sugar to make this tasty sweet! Make in 30 minutes and serve during festive or religious occasions.
Table of Contents
About 7 Cup Burfi
This yummy and popular sweet is from South Indian cuisine and is usually made during Hindu festivals. It is also known as 7 cup cake or 7 cup burfi or 7 cups sweet as it is made with 7 measures of ingredients.
It can be made using 7 small bowls, glasses or cups as measurements. For this recipe, I used standard measuring cups.
It is easier to prepare compared to Mysore pak and tastes amazing! It is very similar to a fudge and is firm as well as lightly soft. If you are a beginner then make 7 cup cake first and then try making Mysore Pak.
The ingredients include gram flour (besan), fresh grated coconut, milk, ghee and sugar. Make sure you roast the gram flour for 3 to 4 minutes or till you get a nice nutty aroma from it and then you cook it with the other ingredients.
Once the ingredients are cooked well, the burfi mixture is then poured into a pan or tray and left to set and cool. Then cut into equal sized squares, serve and enjoy!
The Measures for 7 Cups Sweet are:
- 1 measure gram flour (besan)
- 1 measure of fresh coconut
- 1 measure of ghee
- 1 measure of milk
- 3 measures of sugar
In my recipe I have used 1 measure and not 1 cup. Thus this includes:
- ½ cup each of gram flour, coconut, ghee and milk.
- 1.25 cups of sugar. I have used ¼ cup sugar less.
I originally added 1.25 cups of sugar but I felt the burfi was too sweet. So feel free to reduce the sugar to 1 cup. These sweets are easy to prepare and can be made relatively quickly for any festival or celebration. In fact, you can even use the Indian steel bowls (vati) or a small glass for 1 measure. If you need to feed more people then double the recipe.
Two of my readers Durga aunty and Shubha shared this recipe of 7 cups sweet with me and I made it a couple of times during Diwali. After perfecting the recipe I decided to share it.
If preparing for the goddess or any deities, then you can add a pinch of clove powder and a pinch of edible camphor.
How to Make 7 Cup Burfi
Preparation to make the sweet
1. Measure all the ingredients and set them aside for later. You will need ½ cup of besan, ½ cup of fresh grated coconut, ½ cup of milk, ½ cup of ghee and 1.25 cups of sugar.
Tip: You can add 1 cup of sugar instead if you don’t want the 7 cup cake to be too sweet. Make sure you fill the ghee to the top of the cup.
Do note that I have not filled the ghee till the top as I did not want it to spill out while taking photos.
2. Grease a tray or a pan with some ghee.
Roasting Besan
3. Heat a heavy iron kadai or pan on low heat and add ½ cup of besan or gram flour.
4. Stir often and roast the besan for 3 to 4 minutes or until you get a nice nutty aroma.
5. Do not brown the besan.
6. Stir continuously while roasting besan.
Making 7 Cup Burfi
7. Add ½ cup of fresh coconut, ½ cup of ghee and ½ cup of milk.
8. Mix very well and don’t worry about the lumps.
9. Then add 1.25 cups of sugar and ½ teaspoon of cardamom powder.
10. Mix very well and stir so that the sugar dissolves. The mixture should eventually become liquid-like.
11. Keep on stirring and cook on low heat.
12. The mixture will begin to thicken and reduce.
13. Continue to cook and stir the mixture until the mixture leaves the sides of the pan. Stir and scrape the bottom and sides of the kadai non-stop as you mix. If you do not scrape the pan then the mixture will stick to the pan and get browned or burnt.
Tip: It is best to use a flat steel spatula (palta) when scraping the burfi mixture.
14. Continue to cook the mixture until the ghee gets released from the sides. Once the barfi mixture looks like one molten mass and has some bubbles switch off the heat. Be careful not to cook the mixture too much as the barfi will become hard and crumbly.
Setting the 7 Cups Sweet
15. Immediately pour the entire mixture into the greased tray or pan.
16. Smooth the top using a spatula or spoon.
17. Allow the burfi to cool down to room temperature.
18. Below is a photo of a set 7 cup barfi block.
19. Then cut the block into equal sized chunks using a sharp knife. Serve 7 cup burfi or store in an air-tight box. Store burfi at room temperature in cold seasons for about 1 day or you can refrigerate.
20. If making for religious festivals then offer the 7 cups sweet to the deities or serve as a sweet.
Helpful Tips to make 7 Cup Cake
- Ingredients: You will need to stir continuosly when cooking the burfi so make sure you measure and prepare all of the ingredients before cooking.
- Coconut: It add a delicious flavor and texture to this sweet. For this recipe, I used fresh coconut but you can also use desiccated coconut instead if you don’t have fresh coconut at home. If you are using desiccated coconut then you won’t have to cook the barfi for so long.
- Sugar: Though this recipe calls for seven measurements you can vary the amount of sugar you add depending on your taste. I prefer to add just one cup of sugar to get the perfect balance of sweetness. But in this recipe I have used 1.25 cups of sugar.
- Stir: When making the burfi mixture continuously stir the mixture to prevent sticking and burning at the bottom of the pan. Once cooked, the barfi mixture should resemble molten mass and have a few bubbles.
- Scaling: This recipe typically serves four people but if you would like to feed more people then feel free to double or triple the recipe.
FAQs
Yes, feel free to use dry coconut instead if you don’t have any fresh coconut on hand.
The burfi mixture is still sticky because it needs to be cooked for a few more minutes. The stickiness comes from the sugar in the 7 cup burfi mixture when it has not formed 1 or 2 string consistencies. When making burfi a 1 or 2 string consistency is required.
As we are not making the sugar syrup separately you must make sure that the burfi mixture is cooked well. The ghee should release from the sides and the barfi mixture should look like one molten mass with some bubbles. If the mixture looks dense, hard or dry, then sprinkle some water or milk on top to add moisture while cooking.
It usually takes around 30 to 40 minutes for burfi to set. However, it does depend on the season. In winter burfi mixtures set quickly but in summer it takes longer to set due to the heat.
Besan should be roasted for 3 to 4 minutes before adding the other ingredients. Be careful not to burn the besan when roasting as this will effect the taste of the sweet. So stir often when roasting.
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7 Cup Burfi | 7 Cups Sweet
Ingredients
- ½ cup besan (gram flour) or 50 grams
- ½ cup fresh coconut or 35 grams fresh coconut
- ½ cup Ghee or 100 to 110 grams ghee (clarified butter)
- ½ cup milk
- 1.25 cups sugar or 200 to 210 grams sugar
- ½ teaspoon cardamom powder
Instructions
Preparation
- Take all the ingredients and keep them ready – besan, grated coconut, milk, ghee and sugar. Instead of 1.25 cup sugar, you can use 1 cup sugar.
- Grease a tray or a pan with some ghee.
Roasting gram flour
- Heat a heavy iron kadai or pan. Keep the heat to a low and add besan or gram flour.
- Stir often and roast the besan for 3 to 4 minutes or till you get a nice nutty aroma from it.
- Do not brown the besan. Also stir continuously while roasting besan.
Making 7 cup burfi
- Once the besan becomes aromatic, then add fresh coconut, ghee and milk.
- Mix very well.
- Then add sugar and cardamom powder.
- Mix again very well and stir so that the sugar dissolves. The mixture will also become liquid like.
- Keep on stirring and cooking on a low heat.
- The mixture will begin to thicken and reduce.
- Continue to cook and stir till the mixture leaves the sides of the pan. While stirring also scrape the bottom of the kadai and the sides. If you do not scrape, then the mixture starts sticking and gets browned or burnt. So you have to non stop stir and scrape. do use flat steel spatula (palta) as this helps in scraping the besan mixture.
- Even after leaving the sides of the pan, Continue to cook till you see ghee releasing from the sides. When the burfi mixture looks like one molten mass with some bubbles and ghee releasing from the sides, then switch off the flame.
- If you cook too much, then the burfi will become hard and crumbly.
Setting the 7 cups sweet
- Immediately pour the entire burfi mixture in the greased tray or pan.
- With a spatula or spoon, even and smoothen the top.
- Let the burfi become warm or cool down at room temperature.
- Then cut with a sharp knife and serve 7 cup burfi or store in an air-tight box. You can keep the barfi at room temperature in a cold season for 1 day or you can refrigerate.
- Offer the 7 cup burfi to the deities or serve as a sweet.
Notes
- The recipe can be doubled but will involve more handwork.
- You can use desiccated coconut instead of fresh coconut. With desiccated coconut, the cooking time will be less.
- You can also reduce the sugar to 1 cup.
- Use fresh besan within its shelf period. Do not use rancid besan.
- Desi ghee gives a really good flavor and taste in this 7 cups sweet.
- A lot of handwork is needed to roast and stir the mixture. At no point the besan or the burfi mixture should get burnt or browned from the bottom. So keep this in mind while making this sweet.
- In a warm or hot climate refrigerate this sweet.
Nutrition Info (Approximate Values)
This 7 Cup Burfi post from the blog archives first published in January 2017 has been republished and updated on 29 August 2021.
I loved it. It is super easy . Also, it one of those kind of recipes where you literally get everything at home and is perfect for occassions where you need sweets immediately.
Thank you Anvita. Glad you liked the recipe.