This cake is inspired by the traditional dessert: Gulab Jamun, made with plant-based ingredients that are just as delicious and indulgent as the original. In this blog post, I will show you how to make this vegan version of Gulab Jamun Cake that is sure to impress your friends and family while being kind to animals and the planet. So let’s get started!
Why Gulab Jamun Cake?
Gulab Jamun is a popular Indian dessert that is traditionally made from deep-fried milk solids balls that are soaked in a sugar syrup flavored with cardamom and rose water. It is a rich and indulgent dessert that is typically reserved for special occasions and festivals.
However, for those who follow a vegan lifestyle, traditional Gulab Jamun is off-limits as it contains dairy products like milk and ghee. Don’t worry though, because I already have a vegan Gulab Jamun recipe here on the blog! But if you don’t want to individually shape the gulab jams or spend time soaking them in syrup then I have an amazing solution for you – Vegan Gulab Jamun Cake!
How to serve Vegan Gulab Jamun Cake?
Well, if you want to go all out, you can serve a warm slice with some vegan ice cream the way it is enjoyed in India when you want something super indulgent. You could also just enjoy a slice by itself or with a cup of masala chai.
Ingredients you’ll need to bake this cake
Here’s a list of ingredients you need to make this recipe. You can find exact measurements in the printable recipe card below.
- Slices of white bread: This is the ingredient I usually use to replace “Khoya” or milk solids in Indian dessert recipes.
- Cashews: 2nd half of the “Khoya” substitute, cashews provides the fatty richness that makes this dessert moist and soft.
- Soy milk: You can sub with other plant-based milks but then don’t bring the wet mixture to a boil in that case. Other plant-milks tend to curdle at higher temperatures.
- Brown sugar: I used brown sugar here to provide the classic brownish color of gulab jamuns to this cake. You can use white sugar instead but the cake will have a lighter color.
- Baking powder: To help rise the cake
- Neutral oil: Used in a very small amount to make the cake moist.
- Ground cardamom seeds: Classic spice used to spice up the Gulab Jamun syrup
- Few strands of saffron: You can skip this if you don’t have it
- Rose water/Gulab jal: No Gulab Jamun is complete with a tiny splash of gulab jal!
How to store this Gulab Jamun cake?
This Vegan Gulab Jamun cake can be stored for up to a week in an air tight container in the fridge. The slices can also be frozen for up to 3 months. Remove from the freeze the night prior to consumption and let ti slow-thaw in the refrigerator.
If you try out this recipe then definitely send me some pictures on Instagram.
Other dessert recipes for you to try:
- Vegan Gulab Jamun
- Vegan Spiced Plum cake recipe
- Vegan Cardamom Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe
- Cardamom Snickerdoodle Cookies
Easy Vegan Gulab Jamun Cake
Ingredients
- 7 slices white bread 1 slice of about 35 g so total weight: 245 g
- ½ cup cashews 70-80 grams or 2.5-2.8 ounces
- 1 cup soy milk 240 ml or 8 oz
- ½ cup water 118 ml or 4 oz, plus more if required
- 1 cup brown sugar 200 grams or 7.05 ounces
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ¼ cup oil 55 grams or 2 ounces
- ½ tsp ground cardamom seeds
- Few strands of saffron
- 1 tbsp rose water/Gulab jal
Optional Garnish
- ¼ cup pistachios chopped
Instructions
- Start by adding the cashews, soy milk, water, sugar, cardamom, and saffron to a pot and place it on the stove on medium heat.
- Bring it to a boil, be careful to stir a few times to prevent the bottom from burning, and immediately switch off the heat.
- Let it slowly cool down (this helps soften the cashews without the need for multiple bowls. Alternatively you can soak the cashews overnight, drain and add to this mixture after boiling).
- While the mixture cools down, Turn your oven on to 180C/350F.
- Then take 7 slices of white bread and blend/process it to a fine powder.
- Add this white bread powder to a large mixing bowl.
- Add baking powder to this and stir it in with a spatula.
- Once the cashew spice milk mixture cools down, add the rose water, pour it into a blender, and blend smooth.
- Pour this into the bread powder and stir to combine everything well with a spatula.
- The bread powder will absorb the liquid and you will get a thick batter.
- Pour it into a well-oiled cake pan (bundt or otherwise).
- Place into the oven and bake for 40-45 minutes, covering the pan with an aluminium foil halfway through to prevent the top from burning.
- Do the crumb test by inserting a long toothpick to see if the centre is cooked. This cake is moister than regular cakes so you will have more crumbs sticking to the toothpick.
- Remove from the oven and let it cool down completely before removing from the pan.
- Top with chopped pistachios and serve with some ice cream or a side of coffee/vegan chai!
Hey Anjali.. u are a magician. I love ur videos. Will try this soon. Wondering how this will turn out with brown bread instead of white.
Thanks!!! I’m sure you can use brown bread as well, as long as it’s the same weight 😀
Can we use regular milk instead of soy milk?
Hi! You can use any type of milk available to you 🙂
What if we don’t have an oven? Could you provide an alternative ?
I’m sorry! This recipe is supposed to be baked. I haven’t tested it on a stovetop yet. I might try that in the future and come with it.
Thank you for your interest!
Which size Bundt pan do you use?
I used a 24 cm pan! Sorry, I should mention it in the recipe card.
This is so innovative! I love it. Quick question, how do I modify the recipe if I want to make a smaller version, 0.5x? Also, would the texture/structure change if I were to cut the sugar to 0.75x of the original recipe? Gulab jamun tends to be too sweet for me but I love the flavour.
Hey Rajoshi! You can just halve the ingredients and it’s going to be fine. Having said that, I suggest you keep the sugar the same. This cake is made to NOT taste as sweet gulab jamuns because, like you, I don’t like desserts super sugary.
Hey Anjali..
I am excited to try this recipe 😋.
Just like Aarthi Sivasankar asked, can we replace soy milk with full cream milk? I understand that you create vegan recipes.
Cheers.
You can replace it with any type of milk available to you 😀
This. Was. INCREDIBLE. The whole time I was making it I was thinking “there’s no way this will work, I am doomed to never have gulab jamun again as a vegan”.
But, I was proven wrong. Not only does this smell like gulab jamun, it has the SAME TEXTURE and the SAME TASTE 🤯 My family devoured this in 2 days with chai.
Hats off to you, Anjali! You’ve gained a big fan 🤗
Side note: For the bread, I made my own whole wheat bread in a bread machine. I used it once it was one day old, since more stale bread tend to bake better.
Oh my god!! This made my heart fill up. You have made my day!! I also like to have this cake with chai.
Also, homemade bread for this recipe? That has taken this recipe to the next level 😍
Hey great recipe but I couldn’t find where and how to use rose water in the recipe
Hi!! Sorry about that. You have to add it to the cashew milk mix once they have cooled down. I have now added it to the recipe card.
Made this a couple of months ago, finally got around to leaving a review. It was pretty easy to make, and came out really well! Want too sweet, but when paired with ice cream, was a really good mix of flavors!
Whoaaa this cake with ice cream is *chef’s kiss*
Thank you for leaving this review!
Hi!! Just because bread slices vary a LOT in size, may you please provide the bread weight in grams? Thank you!
Hey! Thank you for the feedback! I used slices that weighed roughly 35 g. I have now added that information in the recipe card.
I tried this in a regular tin with regular milk, while the top and bottom turned out fine, the middle was a bit too runny. The taste was exactly like gulab jamun. So just wondering if another additive is needed besides bread to make it a little less gooey? Or does it come out right only in a Bundt tin? But thanks, it’s very innovative.
The centre of the cake turned out under cooked. I’ve tried this twice with the same outcome unfortunately. Any tips to make it cook evenly ?
Was the 1/4 cup of oil for greasing the pan or should it go into the bread mix? Also, when should you add the rose water?
Hi!! It’s for the bread mix. The oil for greasing is separate. Good luck!
Hi, I have the same question about the oil. I don’t see where to add the 1/4 cup oil in the recipe. Thank you!
Hi ,
Just a heads up , when we press the. Double and triple the recipe tab , the conversion doesn’t happen, it still shows the original amounts in gns etc.
Regards,
Soujanya
For Nut allergies, Would recipe not work if we avoid the cashews? Can something else be used to replace the creaminess of the cashews?
Hey Shelly, I have only tried this with cashews. Maybe try a combination of sunflower seeds and firm tofu or something. I need to test it so I can’t guarantee results yet!
Good luck!
Love love love this recipe, already made it twice for this Diwali season 🙂
So easy to make and such great results…
Got multiple compliments for this dish…
I made it with whole wheat bread, weighed everything, and doubled the recipe the second time I was making as I think I have a bigger Bundt pan so the first time the cake was thin..
So this time I had extra cake batter, I made some mini gulab jamun cake muffins…I baked the muffins for 20 minutes and they were perfect….next time I might just make a big batch of muffins 🙂