Celebrate Deepavali with this delicious spice infused Vanilla Gulab Jamun Cake!!!!!!!
Deepavali (Diwali) this year is extra special for me! My cousin’s wedding was just a week ago in Trichy and so here I am celebrating Deepavali for the first time in (almost) 10 years, in INDIA !!!! Those living in the United States can relate to my excitement… I finally get to enjoy some fireworks at home…. yayyy!!
For those of you wondering what “Deepavali” is, it is one of biggest festivals celebrated by Hindu’s in India and all over the world. It is also known as the “festival of lights” and “festival of color”. If you would like to learn more, HERE is a wiki link.
So as I was pondering on what cake recipe to present for Diwali week, I decided that it needed to be “Indian Sweet” related…The only easily available sweet in the US is the ready made Haldiram’s Gulab Jamun, available at pretty much every Indian store .
So I decided to experiment with it to create one of the best “cakes” Deepavali has seen… ever !
Here I am, proudly presenting to you lovely readers a delicious spice infused Vanilla Gulab Jamun Cake!!!!! The cake is topped with Jamun, pistachios, saffron, and a spice-infused sugar syrup to give that final and perfect finish!
The layers were soaked with this spice infused syrup that you see above and below. The saffron imparts the yellow tint and the hint of chopped pistachios give a perfect balance to the base flavor of the cake….
The cake layers were soaked in a delicious cardamom infused sugar syrup…… and the center of the cake was filled with thin slices of Jamun, chopped pistachios and cardamom meringue buttercream….. heaven !!!!
Look how tender and moist the cake looks………I generally don’t eat cake during a photoshoot…. but this, I just couldn’t resist !!
- Thula's White Cake Mix
- 250 g Granulated Sugar
- 1/2 cup Water
- 5 Cardamoms Crushed
- 3 Egg Whites
- 1 Whole Egg
- 1 1/2 tsp Almond Extract
- 1/4 cup Yogurt
- 1/2 cup Milk
- 1/2 cup Oil (Sunflower)
- 1 kg can Haldirams Syrup- 1 cup
- 5 Cardamom Crushed
- 400 grams/1.5 cups/3 sticks Unsalted butter at room temperature,cut in pieces.
- 4 Egg Whites
- 200 g/1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 tsp Cream of Tartar (optional)
- 1 tsp Rose Essence
- 2 tsp Cardamom Sugar Syrup
- Crushed pistachios
- 1 tsp Saffron water (soak a few strands of saffron in warm water)
- 1kg Haldirams Gulab Jamun
- Mix sugar, water and crushed cardamoms together and heat 3 minutes on high until sugar completely dissolves. Use a fork to remove the cardamom skins.
- Add the remainder wet ingredients into a bowl and mix for 30 seconds.
- Add the previously made hot (sugar cardamom) syrup and continue mixing for another 30 seconds.
- Add pre-sifted white cake mix to the mixed wet ingredients.
- Mix on medium speed for 1 minute
- Stop, give a good mix with spatula and mix another 1 minute in slow speed.
- Pour batter into 2 8 inch baking pans and bake at 320 F for 45 minutes.
- In a heat safe bowl add egg whites and sugar. Whisk this together to break the egg whites.
- Double boil this mixture, stirring continuously to prevent scrambling until the temperature reaches 130F. You can use a candy thermometer to check the temperature.
- The mixture at this point turns translucent. Immediately add it to a grease free metal bowl, add cream of tartar and whip on high speed until cool (7-10 minutes).
- Once the mixture is cool change to paddle attachment and add butter one piece at a time keeping the speed at medium.
- Add the rose essence, cardamom sugar syrup and saffron water to the buttercream and continue mixing on high for another 2 minutes.
- Tort the two cake layers so you have 4 layers.
- Attach first layer to the cake board with a dab of buttercream.
- brush the cake with the cardamom sugar syrup such that it's soaked in it. apply a thin and even coat of frosting on this later.
- Place the second cake layer. This will be the cake center so repeat the syrup soak and layer with thin slices of gulab jamun. Fill the gaps with pistachios and apply a thin and even coat of icing.
- Now apply the third layer and do the same as the FIRST layer. Repeat same for fourth layer and ice the cake completely.
- For the top I did simple swirls with jamun balls. I sprinkled pistachios, saffron strands and poured some cardamom sugar syrup for the final finish!
- g- Grams
- tsp- Teaspoon
- TB- Tablespoon
- Cake yields 8-14 generous servings.
Celebrate Diwali with this delicious show stopping cake …. and impress your loved ones !!
How did you enjoy this recipe?! Leave your thoughts in comments below…. TIA for sharing !
Love
Thula
candy
October 28, 2016
Love putting together two layer cakes, when they are cut they look so pretty. Looks delicious.
Thulashitha RD
October 29, 2016
agree ! 🙂
Pamela Arsena
October 28, 2016
This looks absolutely divine. I have to try this for myself. I saved this to my cooking board on Pinterst for later.
Melinda Naber
October 28, 2016
It looks almost too pretty to eat!
Thulashitha RD
October 29, 2016
thank you ! 🙂
indika
October 28, 2016
Yummm. You really are talented! Happy Deepawali!
Thulashitha RD
December 20, 2016
Thank you Indika ! 🙂
indika
October 28, 2016
Yummm. You really are talented! Happy Deepawali
Thulashitha RD
October 29, 2016
Thank you Indika, wishing you the same ! 🙂
Kim @ Three Olives Branch
October 30, 2016
It looks wonderful! What a unique cake, I’ll have to try it!
Thulashitha RD
November 1, 2016
Thank you Kim! 🙂
Ari
October 30, 2016
This looks absolutely scrumptious! I can’t wait to try this for myself!
Thulashitha RD
November 1, 2016
Thank you Ari ! 🙂
hina
November 3, 2016
I tried this recipe and it came out so good ,thanks for all guidence.
Thulashitha RD
November 7, 2016
I am so glad , thanks for your review Hina !
Thula's Cake Lab
February 10, 2021
Yay im so glad !