Vermicelli cake, also called vam-a-zelli in Guyanese patois, is a dessert made from vermicelli noodles that have been simmered in milk, flavored with cinnamon, nutmeg, and other spices or extracts. Once the noodles are cooked and the mixture has a pudding like consistency, it is poured into a dish and left to firm up, then cut into squares. I must note here that Trinidadians make a very similar dish and it is called Sawine. The only difference is the mixture is removed from the heat once the noodles are cooked. This results in a sweet noodle soupy consistency. My friend Anjy also described a dish called Paysum (which is the South Indian version) to be very similar to Sawine, and in Pakistan known as Seviyan.

Special occasions

My mom used to make this during Hindu holidays and any special occasion in our home, it was truly a treat. The loose version is a popular dessert made during the Muslim holiday of Eid. Many have this for breakfast as well. In a time when there is so much divisiveness, it's reassuring to know we share more commonalities than differences. Food truly unites us.

I called my mom for this recipe and naturally, she gave me a recipe that indicated a dash of this and a pinch of that along with 2 pot spoons of sugar. I said mom, "no one measures sugar that way" haha! It turns out that her pot spoon is equal to a half cup, ha!

I used 200g of vermicelli noodles

chop up 14 maraschino cherries, you can add more if you like

melt ½ stick butter and parch noodles till some of them become brown then add the milk

add one can evaporated milk plus 3 ½ cups whole milk, sugar, and vanilla

add ½ tsp almond essence, nutmeg, cinnamon and stir everything together in the pot

when the mixture becomes thick (about 20 minutes) and heavily coats the back of the spoon, turn off the heat. You can add some condensed milk here if desired. Remove from heat and pour into a dish.

The dish I'm using is 2 inches deep and my vermicelli came up 1 ½ inches. It was nice and thick.

after it firms up, cut a piece...

serve and enjoy!

Vermicelli Cake

Vamazelli (vermicelli) Cake

Ingredients

200g vermicelli noodles (about 2 cups)
14 maraschino cherries, roughly chopped
desired amount of currants (I used ¼ cup)
4 tbsp salted butter (½ stick)
½ cup brown sugar
½ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp almond essence
1 12oz can evaporated milk
3 ½ cups whole milk
½ cup water (not pictured above)
¼ cup condensed milk (if desired)

Instructions

Melt butter in a deep pot on low heat. Add vermicelli noodles and parch it until some of the noodles become brown, this will happen fast so do not walk away from the stove.
Once some of the noodles are brown, add all the milk, extracts, and spices, add the water.
Keeping the stove on low heat, let the noodles boil in the milk until they start to soften up, add cherries and currants.
About 15 minutes in, the mixture should start to clump together (everyone's stove temperature is different so if it has not reached this stage as yet, just wait until it starts to look like a really thick pudding).
The mixture will look dried out, the liquid would have absorbed, if the mixture coats the back of a spoon thickly without dripping, then add condensed milk at this time. Stir to mix in then remove from heat and pour into a dish.
Let this sit out for a couple hours to firm up, or you can put it into the refrigerator to firm up faster. Cut and enjoy.

For Sawine:

After adding milk to noodles, boil 5-10 minutes until noodles are cooked. Remove from heat before it starts to thicken.

Notes

For added flavor, you can add a few cloves and cardamom pods to mixture while it is boiling. ¼ tsp ground clove and cardamom can work in place of whole spice.

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Comments

Nisrine|Dinners and Dreams

January 20, 2011 at 1:34 am

Pretty cool dessert. I thought it was a savory dish at first.
Nanette

January 20, 2011 at 2:30 am

Very interesting. Have heard of this cake but never saw a recipe for it. Thanks for something different. N
cucinananette.blogspot.com
Nanette

January 20, 2011 at 2:36 am

What size can of evaporated milk? N
cucinananette.blogspot.com
Ms. Gourmet Express

January 20, 2011 at 2:39 am

Hi Nanette,

Thanks for visiting! I used a 12oz can of evaporated milk. I will indicate that in the recipe.

Also Nisrine, I checked out your blog, it is so beautiful! Thank you also for visiting 🙂

Alica
ShivaShakthi Asuri

January 20, 2011 at 3:45 am

wow nice cake Alica. Yes we have sweet soupy dish called payasam/payasum, and the one with vermicili is called semiya payasam/vermicili payasam. This is a very nice varaition of the dish. take care.
guavapineapple

February 03, 2011 at 9:11 pm

This looks great! I tried making it myself around Christmas time and failed miserably.
GT Girl Ramblings

March 22, 2011 at 7:04 pm

I'm inspired. I will make this for my husband tonight. He cannot envision, as he calls it 'sweet pasta'. I'll show him sweet pasta!
Ms. Gourmet Express

March 22, 2011 at 7:08 pm

Awesome! I hope he likes it! lol "sweet pasta" is funny tho!
Anonymous

October 28, 2011 at 6:53 pm

Hi, I was looking online for Vermicelli cake recipes and stumbled upon your site. Your recipes look SO GOOD!! I am going to try a few of them (bake/saltfish, scalloped potatoes, custard block). Your website is inspiring! Thank you.
Anonymous

April 26, 2012 at 11:06 pm

I made this and it was delicious!! Thank u so much for the recipe. Keep them coming.
Sarah

August 19, 2012 at 8:06 pm

I stumbled upon this post today while working on a newspaper story. Great recipe! I also shared this on my food blog: sarahinthekitchen.wordpress.com/2012/07/09/sawine-cake-recipe-for-ramadan
Gouda

August 04, 2013 at 4:41 am

My parents used to say "vam-a-zell-i" and I had no idea that they were saying "vermicelli". Was that just me?
Alica

August 04, 2013 at 5:32 am

Hi Gouda,

No, you are correct, my parents used to say vamazelli as well haha! The correct name for this type of noodle is vermicelli though.
- Kay
  
  November 29, 2017 at 11:07 am
  
  Hi Alica,that would be the Guyanese dialect...lol
Preya Samuel

October 31, 2013 at 6:40 pm

Hi, made it tonight and it taste amazing! Thanks for the recipe.
Vim

August 04, 2015 at 3:12 pm

Lovely reminds me of my mom's. Here in South India vermicelli is called sevia/seviyan and the sweet dish made is called payasam, in north it is known as kheer. Also a salt dish is made from this in south called upma.
Vim

August 05, 2015 at 5:30 pm

Lovely same as my mom's. Here in South India vermicelli is called sevia/seviyan the liguid sweet dish made is called payasam same as kheer which Is what it is called in North India and pudding in English. South also make a salt dish from sevia called upma.
Natalia

December 30, 2018 at 6:18 am

Hi Alicia,

I made this for my parents using your recipe and it tasted just like my mums. Amazing! They loved it.

Thank you for your blog. It's much needed. Especially when your parents cook without measurements so you have no idea how much to throw in the pot
Kevin

April 19, 2019 at 2:21 pm

Hi Alicia,

I am from guyana and when i want a recipe for anything I always visit your site. I love this recipe it came out wonderfully thanks a lot.
- Alica
  
  April 19, 2019 at 2:28 pm
  
  Hi Kevin,
  
  That's wonderful to hear! Thanks for trying the recipe ?.