Kesari Gulab Jamun

Absolutely! Actual baking time may differ based on your pan size, shape and material. There are some basic rules: 1. A round baking pan may easily be replaced by a similar sized square pan. 2. ⁠In general, cakes baked in smaller pans take longer to bake than cakes baked in larger pans. It’s all about how much surface area is directly exposed to heat. 3. Cakes bake faster in metal pans as compared to ceramic pans since metals conduct heat better. Ceramic pans aren’t my baking material of choice but will certainly work for your dessert here.

For best experience, I’d recommend using unsalted butter. Your dry mix contains salt already and using salted butter may throw the delicate balance of the recipe off.

Mix the wet and dry ingredients together until you get a uniform mixture. No dry pockets of dry flour should be visible. Remember to be gentle with the mixture at this point- stop using any stand mixers/hand mixers/whisks at this point and shift to gentle folding method using a silicon spatula (explained in the process video as well)

About 5 minutes before the suggested baking time in the instructions, poke the center of the cake gently with a skewer or a fork. If you see any wet/semi-wet batter on the skewer, return the cake to the oven in small time increments of 2-5 minutes. Your cake is done when your skewer comes out mostly clean. Few dry crumbs attached to it are ok.

You would definitely need a whisk or mixer, baking pan, a stove pan, measuring scale or measuring cups & spoons. Most other tools can be replaced with suitable replacements from your kitchen.

You could bake Gulab Jamun cupcakes as suggested. Here are a couple of recommendations for Bundt pans that don’t break the bank: budget option or the one I use. Since this recipe is for a big cake and especially designed to be baked as a Bundt cake – it’s not directly translatable to a bigger sized round or square pan (8” or 9” for instance). Baking in any such pan may result in less than ideal cake texture. If you don’t want to invest in a Bundt pan or make cupcakes as suggested, I’d recommend splitting the entire recipe in half and making two 6” cakes instead. You’d still follow the same instructions, just bake the 6” cake for 25-35 minutes. You could bake two 6” cakes at once or even reserve half of the dry ingredients in an airtight container and bake the second 6” cake on a later date. Two cakes from one kit!!

I can’t see why not, but I have never tried it myself. If you do use the store-bought one, make sure to get it to room temperature just like the other refrigerated ingredients.

You need to give these ingredients atleast an hour on the kitchen counter. You can hasten the process for butter by opening the paper wrapper and slicing the butter in cubes- just to increase the surface area exposed to air.

The recipe works on chemistry and each ingredient (in its correct amount) plays a part in making the cake that we can appreciate. If you alter the amount of any ingredient- results can differ and quality won’t be guaranteed. If you still want to try it, I highly recommend not altering the Cake Sugar and Sugar & Spice Mix sugars provided- use them as is. You could certainly skip the glaze altogether or use it sparingly.

The time for mixing mentioned in the recipe is an approximation based on many factors- temperature of ingredients, type of mixing method used, speed of mixing, etc. You are basically looking for a light yellow mixture with almost no granulated sugar visible. It should become a homogeneous mixture. Scraping the bowl sides a couple of times helps a lot as well.

We are trying to ensure that our dry flour mixes in with the batter well without a lot of mixing. To aid this process, it’s a good practice to add half your flour followed by half liquid (buttermilk, in our case) followed by the remaining half of flour and finally, remaining half of the buttermilk.

Smoothen out the top of your batter by using the silicon spatula or the back of a spoon. You could also bang your pan on the counter a few times to make sure the batter disperses evenly in the pan.

Each oven is different and baking times differ for a variety of reasons. It’s generally a good idea to set the oven timer for the lower limit of the suggested time and then do the skewer test once the timer runs out. You aren’t looking for a brown cake, just bake till you don’t see wet batter on your skewer. Dry crumbs are perfectly fine!

I like to start working on the syrup as soon as the cake is in the oven. Then I let the spices infuse in the syrup until you are ready to pour the syrup in the cake. So strain the syrup and proceed straight to soaking your cake after reserving 1/4th cup as suggested in the recipe.

Trust me, just pour the entire syrup in the cake (after reserving the 1/4 cup). The cake will soak all of it. This is what will give you that Gulab Jamun feel that you are looking for! <3

Here is a rough timeline for you: Cake is out of the oven -> Let it rest on the counter for 10-15minutes -> Poke the cake all over with a fork and pour the syrup -> Let it absorb and further cool down 20-30 minutes more (prepare the glaze meanwhile) -> Invert the cake on your serving platter and decorate with your glaze and toppings right away. Enjoy!

Yes & no. To prepare the glaze properly, you need to mix all of the provided glaze sugar with the reserved 1/4 cup syrup. Once your glaze is ready and has the perfect consistency, you can choose to use as much/as little as you like!

It’s super easy! Just pour your glaze in your piping bag and start! You cannot go wrong here. If you are still skeptical, you can always skip the piping bag and instead use a spoon for your glaze.

You may not have any! 😉 If you still want to save some for later- the cake can stay at room temperature for 1-2 days. After 2 days, store the remaining in the refrigerator for 3 more days. I love enjoying my leftover slices after warming up in the microwave for 5-10seconds!