Eggless Gulab Jamun Cake - my cake version take on the ubiquitous and popular Indian sweet Gulab Jamun!
This is a scrumptious cake with the flavors of gulab jamun (a deep-fried milk-based Indian sweet or dessert soaked in sugar syrup) but without the extra sugar, fat or guilt of eating something tasty but high in calories!!!
(Do check out step-wise recipe, printable/to save RECIPE CARD as well as variations to make this cake more decadent for special occasions in the post).
GULAB JAMUN CAKE
Becoming a food blogger has widened my social circles and being a part of different foodie groups has exposed me to many fellow bloggers out there with similar interests as mine.
While browsing through one such group, I happened to come across this recipe mentioning gulab jamun and cake in the same dish!!!
An obsessive baker that I am, it intrigued me to no end that an exotic sweet like gulab jamun can metamorphose itself into a cake using whole wheat flour and eggless to boot!!
I had to try it and especially with 2 packets of Gulab Jamun mix (these are available at any Indian grocery store) lying in my pantry always, there was no excuse to not make it!!
In about 15 minutes, the cake was in the oven and after 40 minutes of agonizing wait, the house was filled with the aroma of gulab jamuns.
I got my first bite, and voila, the taste and texture floored me!
Flavors of gulab jamun but in a cake and without the guilt of eating a deep fried, calorie-laden, sugary sweet, soaked in sugar syrup!
The only change I did from the original recipe was I substituted sour milk for regular milk.
In my adventures in baking, I have found that using sour milk (regular milk with vinegar) instead of regular milk gives most cakes a fluffier consistency. You can choose to use just regular milk too.
(If you do not have gulab jamun mix, you can just flour and milk powder instead to make this cake. Instructions in main recipe notes).
The best part in making this cake is it is eggless/egg free and needs no heavy equipment or mixer to mix.
Do try this today and I am sure you and your family too will love it and it will become a favorite in your house too!!
FOR THE SWEET TOOTH IN YOU (with syrup):
For Diwali 2023, I decided to make this cake again albeit soaking it a little with some sugar syrup (again, using extra sugar syrup on top is optional) and in my favorite pan, a 6-cup Bundt cake pan!
Using the same recipe, I baked the cake in a well greased (with ghee) 7-inch Bundt pan and baked for 30 minutes (or until you see a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean).
If using a Bundt pan, make sure to grease every nook and crevice of the pan with butter or ghee for easy demolding.
(For a lovely saffron color for the cake, I crushed some saffron strands and soaked them in a bit of the milk used in the recipe.
Added it along with the rest of the wet ingredients to the cake batter).
Meanwhile make a sugar syrup (1:1 water to sugar) with a few saffron strands. Dissolve sugar and simmer for 5 minutes.
When the cake is done, remove from oven, let stay in pan 10 minutes and then demold it on to a cooling wire rack.
Poke small holes in the cake and gently spoon sugar syrup over the cake. Use just about 4-5 tablespoons only. Too much and the cake will soak up and become mushy.
Again, drizzling syrup on top is totally optional. The cake by itself is quite sweet enough for our palette; not too sweet, yet sweet enough.
Garnish with nuts (I have used pumpkin seeds) and dried rose petals, let cool completely, slice and enjoy.
Serve plain slices or if preferred drizzled with more sugar syrup on top!
For a more festive treat, using the gulab jamun mix (any brand), how about trying making them into doughnuts!
Recipe here:
Enjoy and Happy Diwali 2023!
Other cakes you can try from my blog are :
- Rose and Pistachio Gulab Jamun Cake (no premix required)
- Eggless Chocolate Beetroot Cake,
- Healthy Muesli/Oats Banana Muffins
- Eggless Dates and Cashew Cake etc.
Eggless Gulab Jamun Cake
Eggless Gulab Jamun Cake is a scrumptious cake with the flavors of gulab jamun (a deep-fried milk-based Indian sweet or dessert soaked in sugar syrup) but without the extra sugar, fat or guilt of eating something tasty but high in calories!!!
Ingredients
- ¾ cup Gulab Jamun mix
- ¾ cup whole wheat flour
- ¾ cup powdered sugar
- 1 cup room temperature milk
- 1 tablespoon vinegar
- ¼ cup oil I have used vegetable oil
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- Pinch of salt
- ½ to 1 teaspoon cardamom powder
- 2 tablespoons chopped or sliced almonds for garnishing
Instructions
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Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit or 180 degrees Centigrade.
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Grease and flour or line with foil and grease and flour an 8X8 inch pan. Keep aside.
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First, we have to make the sour milk. In a small bowl, mix the milk and vinegar and let stand for about 5 minutes. You will notice that the milk would have curdled a bit. This is sour milk. You can skip this step and use just milk.
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In a large mixing bowl, sift the gulab jamun mix, wheat flour, powdered sugar, salt, cardamom powder, baking powder and baking soda at least once or twice to mix thoroughly. You can use a wire whisk to mix it too.
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To the flour mixture, add the sour milk/milk and oil and fold gently to mix thoroughly. Do not over mix or your cake will become dense. We want a light and fluffy cake.
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Gently pour into the prepared pan and smoothen the top with a spatula to level the batter.
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Sprinkle the nuts on top.
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Bake in the preheated oven for about 30 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
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Remove from oven and rest in pan for about 5 minutes.
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After 5 minutes, remove from pan and place on cooling rack to cool completely.
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Serve this delicious and amazing eggless cake with the flavors of your favorite gulab jam guilt-free to your family and friends (after taking a bite of it yourself first!!!).
Recipe Notes
- You can use brown sugar or even jaggery (unrefined cane sugar) instead of regular sugar.
- I have found that using sour milk instead of regular milk gives a fluffier consistency to many cakes. You can choose to use just regular milk instead.
- If you do not like the flavor of cardamoms, you can use 1 teaspoon vanilla essence/extract instead.
- Use any kind of nuts and for a crunch in every bite, stir in some nuts in the batter!!!
For people with nut allergies, you can omit the nuts. - Gulab Jamun mix is basically milk powder with a little flour and baking soda, so if you cannot find readymade Gulab Jamun mix, you can substitute the mix with 1/2 cup milk powder, increase the whole wheat flour to 1 cup and baking soda to 1/2 teaspoon. Comes out amazing too, as vouched for by one of my readers!
- This cake can be served without syrup but if you want a more decadent dessert, then make the sugar syrup (as mentioned in my post making Bundt gulab jamun cake) and serve with it.
- Enjoy and Happy Baking/Eating!
Step by step method given below.
Step-by-step method to make Gulab Jamun Cake:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit or 180 degrees Centigrade.
- Grease and flour or line with foil/parchment paper an 8x8 inch pan. Keep aside.
- First, we have to make the sour milk. In a small bowl, mix the milk and vinegar and let stand for about 5 minutes. You will notice that the milk would have curdled a bit. This is sour milk. You can skip this step and use just milk if preferred but I find sour milk adds a bit of softness to any cake.
- In a large mixing bowl, sift the gulab jamun mix, wheat flour, powdered sugar, salt, cardamom powder, baking powder and baking soda at least once or twice to mix thoroughly. You can use a wire whisk to mix it too.
- To the flour mixture, add the sour milk/milk and oil. Fold gently to mix thoroughly. Do not over mix or your cake will become dense; we want a light and fluffy cake.
- Gently pour into the prepared pan and smoothen the top with a spatula to level the batter.
- Sprinkle the nuts on top.
- Bake in preheated oven for about 30 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
- Remove from oven and rest in pan for about 5 minutes.
- After 5 minutes, remove from pan and place on cooling rack to cool completely.
- Serve this delicious and amazing eggless cake with the flavors of your favorite gulab jam guilt-free to your family and friends (after taking a bite of it yourself first!!!).
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Hi.!! Thank yu for sharing an awesome recipe.!!
Had tried the recipe with many variations.
1.Exactly as shared
2. Replaced atta with maida( made as layered bday cake stuffed with gulab jamuns )
3. Added 1/4th cup of cocoa and some choco chips
4. Added nuts, dry grapes and dates
And everytime it's a hit ? . And now it's my go to recipe!
Oh, thank you dear Lakshmi! I am so happy you loved it and those other options look amazing too! Will try them some time.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and appreciation dear <3
Wow wanna try it. Can I use Butter Milk(made from curd) Instead of sour milk!!
Hi Revathy,
Thank you dear!
Using buttermilk may make the cake too sour; instead use plain milk or even just water. Should work fine.
I found that using sour milk sort of makes cakes fluffier than without, so I use it sometimes.
Hope this helps.
Thanks dear for stopping by 🙂
Absolutely loving this recipe . Eager to try it out . Can I use APF in place of WWF? Would like to try with maida too .
Hi Aparna,
Yes, you can surely make this with maida/APF. It will still come out soft and fluffy 🙂
Thank you for stopping by dear. Do try and let me know your thoughts about the outcome.
Hello..can I make this cake on flame..I mean in a kadai?
Hi Samaira,
I a have not made it in a kadai, but I am sure it should come out good.
Do let me know if you do try this cake on a stove top.
Thank you so much for stopping by.
Super easy and awesome recipe!! My 6 year old daughter enjoyed it even more than regular gulab jamuns!! Thanks a tonne for this recipe ?! Will keep baking it often now!
Hi dear!
Awesome!!! I am so happy your daughter enjoyed this cake dear <3
This is one of our family favorites too; I love baking using easy techniques and with easy to get ingredients 🙂
I truly appreciate you sharing your feedback and your lovely comments!
If kids are happy, moms are happy don't you think?
Thanks again dear and Warm Regards
Vanitha
This sounds delish. What is the rational behind using sour milk?
Sour milk acts like an acidic agent(like buttermilk) which reacts with baking soda to give a rise to bakes. Here you can use buttermilk too instead or just water/milk!
I tried this for my sister 's birthday during this lock down.. Had to use coconut oil and added some extra baking soda + curd(Due to unavailability of other oils and baking powder)... Yet, it turned out to be moist and super delicious... Thank you so much for this easy yet heavenly recipe!
Hi Monisha!
I am so glad you got to try this easy but one of the popular cakes on my blog 🙂 Those substitutions sound awesome! I will keep those in mind when I bake next! Thanks so much for trying and giving a lovely feedback!
Vanitha, I had missed this recipe on your amazing blog. I am so happy to find it!
Thanks so much Sandhya!!! You must try this! It is one of my most popular cakes on the blog 🙂
Tried it with without the package mix as you suggested in the comments above & the cake turned out AWESOME!
That is awesome!!! Thanks so much for sharing your feedback dear and I so appreciate your stopping by my blog <3
Hi, this is a awesome recipe...have tried it before... But suddenly the ingredients list in this page is missing. Can you please look into and fix it soon. Thanks in advance
Hi Kulali!
Sorry about that dear! I am having a glitch and problem in my blog with many of my recipes missing! I am in the process of updating all of it! I am updating this immediately! Thanks for letting me know 🙂
Hi,
This is an amazing recipe. We are home bakers and we have made this cake into a birthday cake. We frost it and decorate it with whipped cream and it tastes delicious. I'm going to frost it Tom with white chocolate ganache and hope that will also be amazing as always!
Thanks a lot. This is a most wanted bday cake for our customers!
Thank you so much 🙂 I am glad you like it! I am sure your customers are enjoying this cake a lot 🙂 🙂
White chocolate ganache sounds delicious!
Hello! Sure, you can do that.
Hi, can we make a cake ahead and store in refrigerator for next day?
Hello, can you pls mention the cup size, 1 cup equals how __ml
Sorry for the late response 🙂 1 cup = 250 ml.
Hi Vanitha ,
I just tried your recipe and it’s amazing !! Better than bakeries infact .. So spongy too! Only change is I replaced sugar with Condensed milk .
Thank you so much 🙂 Glad you loved it 🙂
Hi, I tried this recipe and it turned out very simple yet so delicious...will definitely repeat this one..thanks for sharing.
Thanks so much 🙂 I am glad you like it 🙂 Thanks again for the feedback 🙂
Loved this easy and delicious Gulab Jamun cake! Feel like it will go very well with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream just like how carrot halwa does! Thanks for the recipe! Shared a photo on CurryandVanilla Facebook page:)
Thanks so much dear 🙂 Totally agree with you; a scoop of your favorite ice cream does complement this cake; Thanks for sharing 🙂 🙂
I tried the recipe and it turned out delicious.
Thanks Vanitha.
Thanks so much 🙂 🙂 Glad you like it; I really appreciate your feedback 🙂 🙂
Hi, my friend made this cake and it tasted heavenly!. I tried making it today but ran out of electricity mid way!...I did some trial and error with the timing and made it...base was slightly burnt and the surface was a little hard..tasted good otherwise....thank you for the recipe?
Thank you so much Sapna 🙂 🙂 I am so glad you liked it! So sorry about the electricity fiasco...that is the only thing that scares me about baking anything in India 😀 Anyway, I am happy the final cake turned out tasty!! Thanks for the feedback; I appreciate it so much 🙂
Hi Vanitha i tried this cake and its a hit thank you for sharing unfortunately gulab jamun cake mix is banned in Australia because it milk product can you please let me know if we can substitute milk powder instead of the mix thanks in advance
Thank you for the feedback 🙂 I am glad you liked it!! Gulab Jamun mix is basically milk powder with a little flour and baking soda, so probably you can substitute the mix with 1/2 cup milk powder, increase the whole wheat flour to 1 cup and baking soda to 1/2 teaspoon. Do try this combo and let me know how they came out 🙂
Hi can we bake it in cup cakes molds? and if yes will it require less time to bake.Thank you
Sure, you can bake it in cupcakes; bake for about 18 to 20 minutes depending upon your oven. Check after 18 minutes or so; and if a toothpick inserted in the center of the cupcake does not come out clean, bake for a few more minutes.
Hi Vanitha, I tried this recipe today & the cake was moist and yummy.This recipe is sure a keeper. My hubby liked it too. Thank you so much ? I wanted to post the picture of the cake, but there is no option here to upload it.
Thank you so much Zeeshan 🙂 Glad you and your hubby liked it. It is one of the most favored cake to make in our house too!!! To upload your cake photo, you can post it on my facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/CurryandVanilla-108597646225688/
My pleasure. I have posted the pictures on your FB page.
How to use jaggery is it okay if we crush it n mix with other ingredients?
Yes, you can try with jaggery; the same amount as sugar; just make sure it is well powdered. I have not tried it but I am sure it will taste good!!!
Hi... I have chilly vinegar. Can I use it or I can replace it which ingredient???
No Pooja, use only white vinegar. Chilly vinegar might give it a flavor of chillies in the cake!!!
Thanks a lot. M trying it tomorrow 🙂
Do try it Pooja.. I am sure you will love it!!!
Looks delicious.... Can u tell me the temp for baking this cake in a conventional microwave ?
Thank you so much Jisha!! I have not tried it in a microwave; sorry , I am unable to give my input 🙂
Hi a beautiful yummy cake, thanks for sharing!!
Thank you so much Suneetha!!! I am glad you like it 🙂