Gulab jamun cake is a delicious and easy to make eggless cake best suited for festivals & celebrations. It tastes just like gulab jamun with an amazing soft and spongy texture of a cake 🙂
I first tasted this cake in a friend’s place and liked it a lot. Earlier I have tastes gulab jamun cakes but they were mostly sponge cakes layered with sliced gulab jamuns, soaked in syrup and finished with frosting. Not a big fan 🙂
This cake unlike those pastry style cakes was served as thick hearty slices that tasted just like gulab jamuns but in the form of super moist and soft cake, count me in 🙂
In this post I am sharing my easy recipe for gulab jamun cake that I tweaked from my friend’s recipe which you can make in less than 60 minutes.
About This Recipe
Gulab jamun cake is a fusion cake recipe where sponge cake meets the ever popular Indian dessert gulab jamun 🙂
In bakeries you will find this cake as a pastry cake but here I am sharing another variation. We will make a rich, hearty loaf of gulab jamun cake that goes well with coffee or chai.
Gulab jamun is a classic Indian sweet where deep fried dough balls made of milk solids is dunked in a rose flavored sugar syrup and served as dessert.
These fusion cakes seem to be the latest rage like rasmalai cake, gulab jamun cake, burfi cheesecake.
You can make this cake with a store bought gulab jamun mix or use a combination of milk powder and all purpose flour. Here I have used a mix of gulab jamun powder, some plain flour and semolina for that light texture.
This eggless gulab jamun cake is flavored with cardamom powder, rose water and saffron strands to mimic the classic gulab jamun. You can also brush the cake with sugar syrup as soon as it is baked but I did not do that.
Here I have garnished the cake with slivered pistachios and dried rose petals but you can go all out and add sliced homemade gulab jamun too if you have them handy.
This cake tastes absolutely delicious on its own but you can also let it cool down and add a simple whipped cream frosting. Some whipping cream, a bit of cardamom & saffron, powdered sugar or icing sugar should do it.
This is an amazing recipe of gulab jamun cake in whichever way you choose to serve. Do try this out and enjoy!
Ingredients & Substitutes
Flour
You can use a mix of all purpose flour, milk powder and semolina or just 2 cups gulab jamun mix powder from stores.
I had around 1.5 cups gulab jamun mix so I used it and added 1/2 cup plain flour and 2 tablespoons semolina or sooji. You can also use corn starch, corn flour or even almond meal instead of semolina.
Milk With Lemon Juice
Any plant based milk or whole milk with lemon juice is the liquid base for this cake. If you buttermilk you can directly use it instead of milk plus lemon juice.
Ghee
The fat used in this gulab jamun cake is ghee instead of oil or butter. While you can use oil or melted butter, ghee lends an unmistakable Indian mithai like flavor, here the flavor of gulab jamun to the cake.
If ghee is unavailable you can melt butter or use any oil.
Sweetener
I have used organic raw sugar in the recipe which made the cake slightly dark in color. You can use any sugar like granulated white sugar, brown sugar, coconut sugar.
I have not tried this cake with any liquid sweetener though. You cannot directly substitute honey or maple instead of sugar in cake recipes.
Baking Powder & Baking Soda
Both these leavening agents are used for texture, to maintain structure and also to make the cake light and airy. Do not omit or swap either one for another.
Flavoring
I have used homemade cardamom powder, you can also pound cardamom pods and use. Some saffron strands and rose water also adds a wonderful flavor to this cake.
How To Make Gulab Jamun Cake
Preparation
Preheat oven at 180 C or 350 F. Grease a loaf tin with few drops of ghee or cooking spray. Spread well.
Dust with some flour, tap to remove excess flour. Alternately you can line the cake pan with parchment paper or butter paper too.
Chop or sliver 2 tablespoons roasted pistachios.
Preparing Batter For Gulab Jamun Cake
Combine 1.75 cups milk and 2 tablespoons lemon juice in a large mixing bowl. Set aside for 10 minutes.
Now your buttermilk is ready for cake batter. To that add 1/2 cup room temperature ghee.
Also add 1/3 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon rose water and a pinch of saffron strands.
Mix very well using a whisk or electric beater until the mixture turns pale and light. Place a sieve over the bowl and add 2 cups gulab jamun mix or 1.5 cups plain flour and 1/2 cup milk powder. Also add 2 tablespoons of corn flour or sooji & 1 teaspoon cardamom powder.
Mix very well yet gently in one direction until the batter turns uniform. Do not over mix.
Baking Gulab Jamun Cake
Pour the prepared batter into the greased cake tin or loaf tin.
Scatter slivered pistachios all over.
Bake in the preheated oven for 35-40 minutes or until the top is browned evenly & a tester comes out clean.
Let the baked cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Invert the pan and let the cake cool completely on a wire rack. Slice and serve as required.
Serving Suggestions
As snack- Serve warm slices as snack with ginger chai or masala chai or coffee. You can add more chopped pistachios and dried rose petals as garnish.
As Dessert- You can also serve this cake topped with vanilla ice cream as a wonderful dessert after Indian meal.
Expert Tips
Use ready made instant gulab jamun to make this cake easily. This instant powder is a mix of plain flour & milk solids only. If using plain flour do add milk powder as mentioned in the recipe.
Instead of milk powder you can also use 1/2 grated mawa or unsweetened khoya.
Ghee lends a wonderful taste and authentic Indian mithai taste to this cake. If you want to use oil use any neutral odorless cooking oil or you can also use melted butter.
Sugar syrup– For a sweeter cake that typically tastes like gulab jamun you can drizzle a simple syrup flavored with cardamom. Just make a syrup with 3 tablespoons sugar and 3 tablespoons water. You can even poke holes all through the cake and drizzle the syrup.
More Cakes
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Recipe
Eggless Gulab Jamun Cake
1 CUP = 250 ml
Ingredients
wet ingredients
- 1.75 cups milk
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup ghee
- few saffron strands
Dry Ingredients
- 1.5 cups plain flour
- 1/2 cup milk powder
- 2 tablespoons corn flour or semolina
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cardamom powder
- 2 tablespoons roasted pistachios slivered
Instructions
Preparation
- Preheat oven at 180 C or 350 F. Grease a loaf tin with few drops of ghee or cooking spray. Spread well.
- Dust with some flour, tap to remove excess flour. Alternately you can line the cake pan with parchment paper or butter paper too.
- Chop or sliver 2 tablespoons roasted pistachios.
Preparing Batter For Gulab Jamun Cake
- Combine 1.75 cups milk and 2 tablespoons lemon juice in a large mixing bowl. Set aside for 10 minutes.
- Now your buttermilk is ready for cake batter. To that add 1/2 cup room temperature ghee
- Also add 1/3 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon rose water and a pinch of saffron strands.
- Mix very well using a whisk or electric beater until the mixture turns pale and light.
- Place a sieve over the bowl and add 2 cups gulab jamun mix or 1.5 cups plain flour and 1/2 cup milk powder. Also add 2 tablespoons of corn flour or sooji & 1 teaspoon cardamom powder. Mix very well yet gently in one direction until the batter turns uniform. Do not over mix.
Baking Gulab Jamun Cake
- Pour the prepared batter into the greased cake tin or loaf tin.
- Scatter slivered pistachios all over.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 35-40 minutes or until the top is browned evenly & a tester comes out clean.
- Let the baked cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes.
- Invert the pan and let the cake cool completely on a wire rack.Slice and serve as required.
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