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LoginKhapli Atta Tea Cakes: A Guide To Making The Perfectly Spongy Tea-Time Treats
30/05/202630/05/2026
Khapli atta makes delicious rotis, a serving portion of three of them providing 34% of your daily fibre needs and 23% RDA of protein. Imagine that, going into your usual tea-time cake instead of the maida version that barely has any fibre or protein in it. Brands like Aashirvaad Chakki Khapli Atta emulate this. While atta cakes can be a bit of a challenge to bake with their springiness impacted more than their taste or texture, they are as good as any of the tea cake recipes made with baking flour.
Khapli wheat is ground into atta from one of the world's oldest cultivated grains, with roots in the Indus Valley Civilisation dating back roughly 7,000 years. Unlike the high-yielding hybrid wheat that is used to make rotis and fibre-rich bakes in today’s kitchens, khapli wheat never went through the reengineering of the Green Revolution. So, this wheat has lower gluten content, a lower glycaemic index, and nearly twice the fibre and protein of standard whole wheat flour.
For baking, lower gluten can be a challenge as it is the driving factor behind the sponginess of cakes, muffins and bread. Gluten is the protein network that traps gas bubbles and gives dough its elasticity, so a lower gluten content can be the enemy of a tender cake. The less gluten you develop, the softer and more delicate the crumb. This is why khapli atta, if handled the right way, produces a tea cake with noticeably lighter texture than standard whole wheat, even though both are technically ‘whole grain’.
Two complaints bakers tend to have when baking whole wheat cakes are their tendency to turn out dense and dry.
If your whole wheat cake is dense, it might just be a technique issue, not a flour problem. Certain things that seem minute, like:
An overdeveloped gluten (caused by over-mixing the batter)
Skipping the rest time
Using too little fat
All of these will give you a dense loaf. With khapli atta specifically, the lower gluten structure might actually help you in making the batter in a way where the cake might turn out tender, instead of a dense brick.
Whole wheat flour absorbs more liquid than refined flour, specifically khapli atta that takes longer to rehydrate, long after the kneading bit is over. If you substitute khapli atta 1:1 into a recipe designed for refined flour without adjusting the liquid, it will be drier. What you need to do here is add 1-2 tablespoons of extra liquid per cup of flour, or build in more fat. Yoghurt, warm milk, and sunflower oil are the most effective moisture-retaining additions for whole wheat baking.
The following tips apply whether you are baking with eggs or going eggless:
Don't over-mix. Once you reach the step of mixing the wet and dry ingredients, mix them only until just combined. Overmixing will give you a dense cake.
Rest the batter. Let the batter rest for 5-10 minutes before baking. This allows the khapli wheat flour to fully hydrate and the leavening to begin working.
Sift the flour. Even with a whole grain flour, sifting loosens the particles and incorporates more air into the initial mix.
Use room-temperature ingredients. Cold ingredients like butter, eggs, or milk are hard to emulsify and will lead to a dense cake.
Choose the right fat. Neutral oils like sunflower, canola or vegetable oil, won’t overpower the cake with their smell, and will also keep cakes moist for longer than butter because it stays liquid at room temperature.
Bake at the right temperature. Bake between 170-180°C (fan) as higher heat will bake the exterior faster than the interior can rise.
Trap moisture after baking. Remove the cake from the tin, transfer to a wire rack, and cover loosely with a clean kitchen towel for 5 minutes. This traps steam and softens the crust.
Eggs play a massive role in cakes, for they are the biggest ingredient responsible for the soft and moist nature of cakes and binding the flour and other elements together. They are also responsible for making the cake puff well. When you remove them, you need to think about how to make up for these missing links. For tea cakes, the following substitutes will work well:
Thick yoghurt (curd): Adds moisture, a mild tanginess, and helps activate baking soda. It works best for soft tea cakes.
Condensed milk: It adds richness and sweetness, and creates a very moist crumb. It is best suited for sweeter, denser loaf-style cakes.
Applesauce (unsweetened): It makes cakes more moist and sweet, with a very light flavour, and works best in spiced or fruit-based cakes.
Flax egg: Perhaps the most preferred egg replacer, it is made with 1:3 portions of ground flaxseed and water. It helps bind the batter and adds a slight nuttiness, making it ideal for dense, nut-based cakes.
Banana (ripe, mashed): It adds moisture, sweetness, and a distinct banana flavour, making it best for banana or spice-based cakes.
For khapli atta specifically, yoghurt is the best choice because it reacts with baking soda to produce carbon dioxide gas bubbles, giving the cake its lift.
Ingredients:
Aashirvaad Chakki Khapli Atta: 2 cups
Eggs: 4
Sugar: 1 cup
Oil: ¾ cup
Baking powder: 2½ tsp
Warm milk: ¾ cup
Vanilla extract: 1 tsp
Salt: ¼ tsp
Chopped nuts: ½ cup
Method:
Preheat the oven to 180°C, and line an 8-inch loaf tin. Set aside
Take a bowl and sift the khapli atta, baking powder, and salt. Mix using a spoon
Add sugar and oil to another bowl. Use an electric mixer on high speed to mix them into a light and fluffy texture.
To the same bowl, add one egg and beat with the electric mixture and repeat with the other three. Add vanilla and mix again.
Divide the dry ingredients in half. Add half into the egg-sugar-oil bowl and mix with a spoon.
Pour all of the warm milk and mix again. Add the rest of the flour mixture and mix just until you have a batter with no glaring flour pockets.
Fold the chopped nuts into the batter.
Let the batter rest for 10 minutes before baking so the khapli atta hydrates well.
Pour the batter into the prepared 8-inch loaf tin with parchment.
Bake for 40-50 minutes in the preheated oven. Insert a skewer into the centre of the cake to check for doneness. If it comes out clean, your cake is done.
Ingredients:
Yoghurt: 2 cups
Baking soda: 1 tsp
Aashirvaad Chakki Khapli Atta: 3 cups
Baking powder: 2½ tsp
Jaggery: 1½ cups
Vegetable oil: 1 cup
Vanilla: 1 tsp
Warm milk: ¾ cup
Chopped almonds: ½ cup
Salt: ¼ tsp
Method:
Grease an 8-inch round pan with butter or oil and line it with parchment paper.
Add yoghurt and baking soda to a large bowl and mix well. Set it aside for a few minutes. It will turn frothy.
Sift the khapli atta, baking powder, and salt in another bowl. Set aside.
Mix jaggery and vegetable oil in another bowl. Then add the yoghurt and baking soda mixture to it and mix again.
Add the vanilla and warm milk into this bowl and mix.
Add the flour mixture into this bowl and mix until barely any flour streaks remain. Make sure you don’t overmix, otherwise the cake will be denser than usual.
Like before, let the batter rest for 10 minutes.
Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan, and scatter the chopped almonds over the top.
Bake for 50-60 minutes. The cake is done when a skewer inserted into the centre comes out with no crumbs.
The recipes above are starting points to baking with khapli atta and making tea cakes, perfect to be enjoyed with tea. Khapli atta has a nutty, slightly earthy flavour that complements ingredients like:
Lemon zest and poppy seeds: This is a classic tea cake pairing for a lemon poppy seed cake, in which khapli atta can be a part of.
Cinnamon and apple: Add ½ tsp cinnamon and fold in 80g grated apple for a moisture-rich autumn-flavoured tea cake made with khapli wheat.
Chai spice is something you should try if you want to bake with tea leaves. A blend of cardamom, ginger, black pepper, and clove with khapli atta will produce a nice spiced tea cake loaf.
Orange and dark chocolate chips: Take one tablespoon of orange zest and 50g of dark chocolate chips and add it into the khapli wheat batter to complement its nutty flavour.
Tutti frutti is an Indian bakery classic that will delight desi tea cake lovers. Fold in 60g candied fruit during the last leg of the cake batter.
Baking with khapli atta can seem daunting, but with a few tweaks and an understanding of this ancient whole grain's properties, you can bake tea cakes in a jiffy. Try the recipe above to get your tea cake baking journey with khapli atta started, and try more variations from there.
Yes. Khapli atta mixes well with regular wheat flour and is commonly blended for softer rotis and lighter baked goods while retaining khapli’s nutty flavor and higher fiber benefits.
