This simple, yet beautiful cake sees the queen of Indian sweets transformed into an easy-to-make dessert. Rose, cardamom and saffron give the syrup-glazed sponge its iconic “gulab jamun” flavour. Serve it with ice cream for a truly royal pudding, or enjoy a piece with masala chai.
Prep Time30 minutesmins
Cook Time1 hourhr
Total Time1 hourhr30 minutesmins
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: Indian
Keyword: baking, cake, eggless, gulab jamun
Servings: 12
Equipment
18cm Dia. x 8.5cm small ring cake/bundt tin
Sugar thermometer/candy thermometer
Ingredients
For the cake:
250gplain flour
40gfull-fat milk powder
50gcoarse semolina
20gcornflour
125gcaster sugar
1tspbaking powder
1tspbaking soda
1/4tspfine salt
420mlwhole milkroom temperature
1tbsplemon juice
1tsprosewater(I used Nielsen-Massey)
125mlany flavourless oil of your choice
8-10saffron strands
4cardamom podsseeds removed and crushed
For the syrup:
80gsugar
50mlwater
1tbsplemon juice
1tsprosewater
8-10saffron strands
2cardamom podsseeds removed and crushed
To grease the cake tin:
1tspany flavourless oil of your choice
1tbspplain flour
To decorate:
Dried rose petals/rosebuds
Slivered or chopped pistachios
Instructions
For the sponge:
Pre-heat the oven to 160°C/320°F. Grease the cake tin with 1 tsp oil and dust with 1 tbsp plain flour. Set aside.
In a jug, mix together the whole milk and lemon juice. Set aside for 10 minutes until slightly thickened. Whisk in the oil and rosewater.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, milk powder, semolina, cornflour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cardamom and saffron.
Gradually whisk in the milk mixture and beat briefly until smooth, about a minute. Don't overwork the batter but be sure to get all the lumps out.
Pour the cake batter into the greased and floured tin. Bang the tin on the work top 3-4 times to remove any unwanted air bubbles.
Bake for 55-60 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean. Do not open the oven door in the first 40 minutes of cooking. This can cause the cake to collapse.
Remove the cake from the oven and allow to cool for 15 minutes. Invert the cake onto a wire rack. It should come away from the tin easily since it was greased and floured. You might need to give it a gentle wiggle. Allow to cool slightly while you prepare the sugar syrup.
For the sugar syrup:
In a small saucepan, mix together the sugar, water, lemon juice, rosewater, cardamom and saffron. Bring to the boil and simmer until it reaches 104°C (119°F) on a sugar/candy thermometer. It should be ever so slightly sticky. The lemon juice will stop the syrup crystallising.
Set the warm cake (on the wire rack) over a roasting tray or oven tray to catch the excess syrup as it falls. You may need to set this over a heatproof mat to protect your work surface. Carefully drizzle the syrup over the cake. Repeat, transferring the cake to another roasting tray or oven tray and drizzle over the syrup from the first tin. Keep doing this until all the syrup is used up. I repeated this step 4-5 times.
Decorate with pistachios. Allow the cake to cool completely at room temperature.
Optional: Fill the centre of the bundt with dried rose petals and rosebuds for a show-stopping finish. Slice and serve.
Notes
Leftover cake can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 48 hours.
Refrigerating the Gulab Jamun Cake will cause it to harden and dry out.
Serve the cake as it is, with masala chai or warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
This cake can be baked into cupcakes. It will make around 18 small cupcakes. Bake at 175°C/350°F for 18-20 minutes. The tops will turn slightly golden.
You can also bake this cake in a 25cm x 4cm (10-inch x 1.5-inch) round cake tin. Bake at 160°C/320°F for 45-50 minutes.