This Lohri Bonfire Cake is one of my favourite cakes I’ve ever made! It was made way before I really considered myself a DIY or food blogger, and was really only meant to wow my kids. It has ended up becoming one of my post popular posts of all time! With that in mind, I’m updating the original post from 2015 with some directions on recreating the Lohri Bonfire Cake. The pictures certainly aren’t perfect, but I get asked about this cake every year, so it’s only fair to share!
Around Lohri my family has a few different traditions. We usually make saag and maki di roti for dinner, bake a special cake, and roast marshmallows for smores. Roasting marshmallows is sort of my nod to the tradition of lighting a bonfire in celebration. Since we can’t really set up a bonfire in our driveway, we light a few candles and make Lohri smores instead.
Keeping with the bonfire theme, I made this fun cake which has a lot of wow factor, but is actually pretty easy to execute. The inspiration actually came from a lot of camping inspired cakes that I saw on Pinterest and I just adapted them for a non-baker like me. To be perfectly honest, I’m just really good at hacks that make it look like I can bake. With that in mind, let’s see if I can remember the process I used to create this cake 3 years ago!
How to Make a Lohri Bonfire Cake
- Start with a frosted cake. I just used a box mix for a chocolate cake, and topped with chocolate icing. If you like to bake from scratch, all the power to you. If I were going to make this cake again, I might try adding some jaggery – which is a traditional ingredient that is often used in Lohri dishes.
- Lay out the ‘fire pit’ using a chocolate finger like cookie. These were Cadbury chocolate fingers and they worked out pretty perfectly!
- Take a few handfuls each of of light brown and orange or red hard candy, put them into a freezer bag, and pound into little bits. (I used Werther’s and Jolly Ranchers). Spread the broken up bits onto a lightly greased baking tray and bake for 5-7 minutes on 350 degrees. This will melt the candies into a thin layer.
- Remove the melted candies from the oven, allow to cool. Break the large slab into small ‘shards’ and insert them upright into the cake making a bonfire.
- If you feel like adding a little Happy Lohri text you can, otherwise you can also leave it as is!
That’s all there is to the cake, really much simpler than it looks! If you are looking for any other ideas on How to Celebrate Lohri with your kids, click through the link!
Do you celebrate Lohri in your house? If so what are your traditions? Leave a comment and let us know!
PS: Gur and Til Popcorn for Lohri, Talking to Your Kids about Culture, Gulab Jamun Cupcakes