OK, after the Gulab Jamun cheesecake, following up with another Gulab Jamun dessert might make it seem like I am obessed. And that is 100% true. If I haven’t mentioned it earlier, Gulab Jamuns have been a childhood favourite I’ve yet to grow out of. After the success of the cheesecake, I couldn’t but help make a Gulab Jamun Cake and this my darlings was such a winner, an absolute crowd favourite.
This cake is super simple to make. I’ve used Shivesh’s Tres leches cake recipe and modified it a teeny bit to make this amazing cake. The cake is eggless and comes together so easily. After baking it multiple times, I am convinced it is failproof and a great cake to master if you are a beginner. It just doesn’t disappoint.
Elements of this Gulab Jamun Cake
It’s fairly simple to assemble the cake once you have all the elements ready. First, you’ll need to bake the cake. Two, make a milk mixture to soak the cake. Three, tinned or store bought jamuns (by all means, use homemade ones if you want to). Lastly, whipped cream to cover and decorate the cake
What whipped cream should I use?
When it’s come to using cream frosting, there’s always some confusion on what kind of cream to use. You’ll need to use milk cream that is high in fat content, so you can whip it into stiff peaks. Low fat cream will not thicken as much when you whip it. You can also use the Amul whipping cream that works fairly fine. I find it best to use non-dairy whipping cream that whips and stabilizes well without much effort.
Gulab Jamun Cake
For the cake
1 cup yoghurt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup oil
3/4 cup castor sugar
1 tsp rose essence
1 1/2 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
For the soaking mixture
1 1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup condensed milk
3/4 cup milk cream (you can use low fat cream here)
few strands of saffron
2 pods of cardamom
For the frosting
2 cups whipped cream,
1/2 cup icing sugar
1 tsp rose essence
10-12 store bought Jamuns
- Start by preheating the oven at 180 C. Grease and line an 8 inch tin with butter paper and set aside.
- In a small bowl, combine the yoghurt and baking soda. Mix and keep aside. You will notice the mixture turning frothy.
- In a separate large bowl, mix the oil, sugar and rose essence. Using a whisk, combine well. Add the frothy yoghurt and combine.
- Lastly, add the flour and baking powder. Using a spatula, mix until you have a smooth batter.
- Pour batter into the prepared tin and bake in a preheated oven at 180 for 30-35 minutes.
- When the cake has baked, take it out of the oven and let it completely cool.
- When the cake has cooled, divide it into two layers.
To make the soaking mixture, combine all ingredients in a saucepan. Heat over a gentle flame until the mixture is slightly warm. Leave it to cool. Strain and set aside.
For the frosting, mix the whipped cream with the sugar and rose essence. The whipped cream should be whipped to stiff peaks. Scoop the whipping cream into a piping bag fitted with a decorating tip of your choice. I used a 1m wilton icing tip.
To assemble the cake:
- On a cake board or serving board, place one layer of cake. Pour some of the soaking milk mixture.
- Pipe some whipped cream over the cake. Place some of the gulab jamuns over the cream( Cut the jamuns into half)
- Place the other cake layer on top. Pour some more of the milk mixture. (You can save the extra milk mixture to serve with the cake)
- Top with more frosting, covering the top and sides of the cake. Use an offset spatula to smoothen the frosting.
- Decorate the top of the cake with some more jamuns and frosting. You can sprinkle some chopped pistachios as well. The cake is best served chilled
- You can see a video of the cake decorating on my Instagram page
