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Eggless gulab jamun bundt cake topped with chopped pistachios and dried rose buds

Eggless Gulab Jamun Cake

A soft, spongy eggless cake flavoured with cardamom, saffron and rose, soaked in a light rose-cardamom syrup, just like a gulab jamun. Perfect for Diwali, Holi or any festival.
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Prep Time 25 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 25 minutes
Servings: 10 slices
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: Indian Fusion
Ingredients Method Video Notes

Ingredients
  

For the cake
  • 1 & 3/4 cup milk
  • 1 & 3/4 tablespoon vinegar or lemon juice
  • 1 & 1/2 cup all-purpose flour (maida) plus 1 tablespoon
  • 1/4 cup milk powder
  • 1/4 cup semolina (sooji)
  • 20 grams cornflour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup caster sugar or powdered sugar
  • 1 teaspoon cardamom powder
  • 5-6 saffron strands
  • 1 teaspoon rose water
  • 1/2 teaspoon kesar gulab extract optional
  • 1/2 cup flavourless oil I use canola
For the syrup
  • 80 grams sugar
  • 50 ml water
  • 1 teaspoon lemon juice
  • 1 teaspoon rose water
  • 2 pinches cardamom powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon kesar gulab extract optional
To decorate
  • chopped pistachios or almonds
  • dried rose petals or rose buds

Method
 

  1. Make the buttermilk: add the vinegar or lemon juice to the milk, stir, and keep aside for 10–15 minutes.
  2. Preheat the oven to 160°C. Grease an 8-inch round bundt pan with oil and dust it with flour.
  3. In a large bowl, mix the flour, milk powder, semolina, cornflour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, sugar, cardamom powder and saffron.
  4. Into the buttermilk, add the rose water, kesar gulab extract and oil, and whisk well.
  5. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients (in batches if you like) and mix gently until just combined. Do not over-mix. Give it a last mix with a rubber spatula.
  6. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 50–60 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.
  7. Cool the cake on a wire rack for 15–20 minutes.
  8. Meanwhile make the syrup: in a heavy-bottomed pan, add the sugar, water, lemon juice, rose water, cardamom and kesar gulab extract. Stir until the sugar dissolves, then boil on low heat for 5–6 minutes until slightly thickened.
  9. Demould the cake onto a rack with a tray underneath. Brush the syrup all over the sides, then pour the rest over the top so every part soaks it up.
  10. Collect the syrup that drips into the tray and pour it over the cake again, until all the syrup is used.
  11. Decorate with chopped pistachios and dried rose petals. Serve as it is with tea or coffee, or with a scoop of ice cream.

Video

Notes

Keep a tray under the cake while soaking it, and keep pouring the collected syrup back over the cake until it is all absorbed.
No pistachios? Use almonds. No dry fruit at all? Just dust the top with powdered sugar.