This Gulab Jamun Date Cake is soft, moist and soaked in a saffron, cardamom and rose syrup. It's the perfect show-stopping dessert to make for any festive occasion - or honestly anytime.
This gulab jamun cake recipe is based off one of the most popular Pakistani and Indian dessert—gulab jamun. It's got all the flavour, the soft and moist texture in the form of a cake. And WAY less sweet. It's perfect for Eid, Diwali or anything!
It has a light cardamom flavour, which is added both in the batter and the syrup. The dates added in the cake complements the gulab jamun flavour so well—slightly caramel-like. It's soaked in a syrup infused with cardamom, saffron and rose water, which give the edges of the cake a similar moist crumb as a gulab jamun.
If you liked this recipe, I know you'll love this Chai Sticky Toffee Pudding, this Pistachio Tres Leches, Chai Spiced Coffee Cake, and these Bomboloni!
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What is Gulab Jamun?
Gulab Jamun is a dessert wildly popular in the Indian Subcontinent—India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, etc. It roughly translates to "rose java plum". I guess the shape resembles java plums, which are small and oblong. But honestly, food names translated to english always so funny to me because if someone asked me if I wanted a rose java plum, I'd be so confused.
They're basically fried balls made of milk powder or khoya, which is milk solids made from cooking down milk, until the moisture evaporates. After frying, the balls are soaked in a rose and cardamom sugar syrup (chashni in Urdu).
Ingredients to make this cake
See recipe card BELOW for ingredient quantities.
- Medjool dates
- Whole milk
- Unsalted butter
- Neutral flavoured oil
- White granulated sugar
- Large eggs
- Sour cream
- Vanilla extract
- All-purpose flour
- Whole milk powder
- Salt
- Baking powder
- Ground cardamom
- Saffron
- Rose water
- Powdered sugar
Why this recipe works
I wanted the cake taste like a gulab jamun, but without all the extra sweetness. I usually find them too sweet for my taste. Since this recipe uses dates, I've lowered the amount of sugar to accommodate them AND the sugar syrup after baking. I promise, it's definitely not too sweet.
Since gulab jamun is made with milk solids or milk powder, I included milk powder into the recipe for both the flavour and texture. As the cake bakes, the milk solids help enhance the Maillard reaction, which is the browning that occurs when heat enters the equation. This also means more flavour. As for the texture, since milk powder is milk in its most concentrated form, it adds moisture and creaminess. If I were to just add more milk, the batter would be way too wet and the ratios would be thrown off. The powder gives us all the benefits without adding all that extra liquid.
The dates
This recipe calls for Medjool dates. I prefer these over other varieties because they're soft, moist—adding both sweetness and moisture to the cake. They're easier to soak and mush up into a paste-like consistency that blends into the batter really well. I highly highly recommend using these dates!
Making the cake
- Heat up the milk and submerge the chopped dates. Let them sit for 10-15 minutes and mush them up into a mostly smooth paste with a muddler or an immersion blender.
- In a large bowl, beat together the butter, oil and sugar for 2-3 minutes. Beat in the eggs. Add in the sour cream, the date mixture and vanilla.
- Combine the flour, milk powder, salt, baking powder and ground cardamom in a separate small bowl.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and fold with a spatula until all combined. Don't overmix - stop when there are no more streaks of flour left.
- Evenly pour the batter into the prepared bundt pan and bang on the counter once or twice to remove large air bubbles. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- While the cake is baking, make the sugar syrup. Combine all the syrup ingredients except for rose water and bring to a boil. Slightly turn down the heat and let it cook for 5-8 minutes or until it slightly thickens up. Remove from heat and add rosewater. Let it slightly cool down. Reserve ¼ cup and set aside.
- Take cake out of oven and let it sit for 15 minutes. Poke the cake all over with a fork and pour the sugar syrup over the cake while it's still in the pan. Let the syrup absorb and cake cool down.
- In a small bowl, combine leftover sugar syrup and the powdered sugar to make a thick glaze.
- Once the cake is cooled, turn the cake over onto a serving platter. Pour the glaze all over and garnish with pistachios and dried rose petals.
Equipment
I'm using a 12 cup bundt pan for this recipe but you can make this into 2 8" cake layers as well.
Storage
Store in an airtight container at room temp for 3-5 days or in the fridge for more than a week.
Top tips to make this gulab jamun cake
- Room temp ingredients: Make sure your ingredients are at room temperature to ensure the batter incorporates well and is stable, resulting in a well textured cake.
- Whole milk powder: I recommend using whole, full fat milk powder instead of skim milk powder. Skim milk powder has much of the fat content removed, which helps make the cake softer and moist.
- Don't cook the sugar syrup too much: Make sure not to thicken the syrup too much, remove it while its still runny but not as thin as water. If it's too thick, it won't absorb into the cake that well.
FAQ
Substitute it with the same amount of yogurt or buttermilk!
Related
Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:
Gulab Jamun Date Cake
Ingredients
- 7 oz medjool dates, chopped
- 1 ¼ cup whole milk warmed (240ml)
- ½ cup + 1 tablespoon white granulated sugar (112g)
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened (112g)
- ¼ cup neutral oil (48g)
- 3 large eggs
- ½ cup sour cream (132g)
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ¾ cup all-purpose flour (241g)
- ¼ cup whole milk powder, packed (40g)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ¾ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
Sugar Syrup
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup white granulated sugar (200g)
- 5 cardamom pods slightly crushed
- a pinch of saffron
- ½ teaspoon rosewater
Glaze
- 1 cup powdered sugar (148g)
- 3-4 tablespoon of the sugar syrup
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Liberally brush a 10-cup bundt pan with cake goop or grease it well with butter and coat with flour.
- Bring the milk up to a boil and pour over the chopped dates. Submerge the dates and let them soak for 10-15 minutes to soften. Mush them up with a muddler or in a blender.7 oz medjool dates, chopped, 1 ¼ cup whole milk
- In a large bowl, beat together the butter, oil and sugar for 2-3 minutes or until light and airy.½ cup unsalted butter, softened, ¼ cup neutral oil, ½ cup + 1 tablespoon white granulated sugar
- Add in the eggs and beat for a minute.3 large eggs
- Mix in the date mixture, sour cream and vanilla extract.½ cup sour cream, ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- Combine the flour, milk powder, salt, baking powder and ground cardamom in a separate small bowl.1 ¾ cup all-purpose flour, ½ teaspoon salt, 1 ¾ teaspoon baking powder, ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom, ¼ cup whole milk powder, packed
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and fold with a spatula until all combined. Don't overmix - stop when there are no more streaks of flour left.
- Evenly pour the batter into the prepared bundt pan and bang on the counter once or twice to remove large air bubbles.
- Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- While the cake is baking, make the syrup.
- Combine the water, sugar, cardamom, saffron and lemon juice to a saucepan, over medium high heat.1 cup water, 1 cup white granulated sugar, 5 cardamom pods, a pinch of saffron
- Bring to a boil and cook for 5-8 minutes, until the syrup thickens up.
- Remove from the heat and add in the rosewater. Set aside 3-4 tablespoon of the syrup for the glaze.½ teaspoon rosewater
- Pour the syrup onto the cake while its still in the pan. Let it sit until absorbed.
- Mix the rest of the syrup with the powdered sugar to make a smooth glaze.1 cup powdered sugar, 3-4 tablespoon of the sugar syrup
- Turn over the cake onto your serving plate.
- Pour the glaze onto the cake. Top with some crushed pistachios and dried rose petals. Serve and enjoy!
Talat says
Recipe sounds amazing !
Is it possible to replace sour cream with Balkan thick yougart 3%?
Nabeah Wahab says
Thank you! That should work fine. It does have a lower fat content than sour cream so it might be a little bit on the drier side. But soaked with the sugar syrup, I don't think it'll be noticeable!
Ashiya says
Nice recipe!
Is it possible to use date paste instead of whole dates?
Nabeah Wahab says
I would not suggest it because it will increase the water/moisture content, making the cake too wet or dense, especially if there's added ingredients to it.