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Eggless Gulab Jamun Cake

A decadent, eggless cake flavoured with cardamom, saffron that melts in the mouth and reminds you of biting into a Gulab Jamun.
Course Dessert
Cuisine Indian
Keyword eggless baking, vegan baking
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Servings 5

Ingredients

Dry Ingredients

  • 3/4 cup gulab jamun mix
  • 3/4 cup plain flour (maida)
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp cardamom powder (or, crush 3 pods of cardamom to a smooth powder)
  • 3-4 saffron strands

Wet Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup oil (use any neutral oil like vegetable/canola)
  • 2 tsp ghee
  • 3/4 cup sugar (use regular white sugar or raw sugar. if coarse, powder in a mixie and measure)
  • tsp rose water (can be substituted with 1 tsp rose essence)
  • 1 cup milk

Saffron Glaze Syrup

  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 2-3 saffron strands
  • 1/4 tsp cardamom powder (or, add 1 pod of cardamom)
  • 1 tsp rose water (optional)
  • 1 tsp edible rose petals (optional)
  • 1/2 tsp lemon juice

Garnish

  • 1 tbsp pistachios
  • 1 tbsp edible rose petals

Instructions

For the cake

  • Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease and line a 8 inch pan. I have tried this recipe with a bundt pan and a round pan. This cake is really forgiving, so use any pan you have. Just make sure the batter is not more than half of the pan. The cake does raise a bit, but not too much.
  • In a large mixing bowl, sift the gulab jamun mix, plain flour, baking powder, baking soda. Add the cardamom powder, saffron strands. Mix well and keep aside. The gulab jamun mix usually has lumps, so you may have to break them using your hands.
  • In a smaller bowl add the sugar, oil, ghee, rose essence, milk and whisk until combined.
  • Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix with a spatula until fully combined and no streaks of flour are visible.
  • Pour the batter into a greased cake tin and bake in a preheated oven at 180C for 25-30 minutes. Each oven is different, so start checking from the 25 minute mark if a skewer comes out clean. The cake is done then!

For the saffron glaze syrup

  • When the cake is baking, make a sugar glaze. This adds a whole dimension to the cake and I'd highly suggest not to skip it.
  • Add 1/4 cup sugar to 1/4 cup water and let it come to a boil, add 1/2 tsp lemon juice, saffron, cardamom and rose petals.
  • Let it boil on a low flame till it forms a syrup. It has to be slightly thick than regular water and sugar should have dissolved completely.
  • Pour the syrup over the cake when the cake is still warm. This really helps for it to get really moist, juicy, and taste really close to a real gulab jamun. 

Serving the cake

  • Garnish with rose petals, crushed pistachios. I'd highly reccomend taking a slice when it slightly warm. The cake stays well for up to a week in the refreigrator ( if it stays that long)

Notes

  • I have used raw sugar that is slightly brown in colour, so the cake is in this shade. if you use regular white sugar, the cake can be lighter in colour 
  • You can use plain flour or whole wheat flour (atta). Do note that the store-bought gulab jamun mix usually contains plain flour. 
  • The cake is not vegan because Gulab Jamun as a dessert is made with milk solids(khoa) and is fried in ghee. To make it vegan, the recipe needs to be significantly altered. If I try a version, I will update it here. 
Variation without Gulab Jamun Mix
  • This recipe has 3/4 cup of all purpose flour and 3/4 cup of Gulab Jamun mix. A gulab jamun mix has milk powder, maida and rising agents. To make this cake without a mix - add 1 cup of all purpose flour and 1/2 cup of unsweetened milk powder. The overall amount of flour + milk powder will be the same 1.5 cups as per the recipe.