I am in love with any type of South Asian ‘fusion’ desserts. I don’t know what the right word for it is. But I like when a South Asian dessert, or the flavours from one, is added into another dessert.
I recently made a rasmalai tres leches cake, YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND IT WAS SO GOOD. So I wanted to do something with gulab jamun this time, so here it is. Gulab jamun cupcakes!
Video Tutorial
The gulab jamun
When planning on making these, I didn’t want to just add a gulab jamun on top, I also wanted to bake one into the centre of the cupcakes.
I kept putting this off though, I though the gulab jamun would end up dry. It did not. The juiciness of it stayed exactly the same.
So I used 24 gulab jamuns for this, 12 were baked into the centre of the cupcakes, and 12 were added on top for aesthetic purposes.
I recommend using small gulab jamuns, they just look prettier on top and they fit perfectly inside of the cupcake cakes. But if you can’t find any, regular sized ones work too, you just might have to cut them in half.
Tips on getting flat cupcakes
I get asked a lot how I get the tops of my cupcakes to be flat. First of all, the recipe you’re using has an effect on the flatness of your cupcakes.
Some cupcake recipes just bake with a dome, some bake flatter. There’s not much you can do about this but here are 2 ways you can get flatter ones:
Don’t overfill your cupcake cases
Overfilling them can be one of the main reasons why cupcakes end up not being flat. You want to add the batter until the cases are about 3/4 of the way full. If you add more than this, they will typically form a dome.
Press them whiles they’re warm
This is something I don’t really see people do, so I don’t know if I should be doing it. But whiles the cupcakes are still hot, I just gently press the surface of them with something flat.
I usually use the bottom of a 1/4 measuring cup but anything flat works. It just helps even out the tops a little.
Substitutions
The brown sugar
I used a mixture of granulated sugar and brown sugar for these. Brown sugar makes cupcakes so much more softer and it also adds a good flavour.
If you don’t want to use it though, you could replace it with more granulated sugar. So in total use 250g of granulated sugar, instead of 125g.
Self-raising flour
If you’re in the US or any other countries that don’t have self-raising flour. You could just use plain/all purpose flour. Just add 3 teaspoons of baking powder to it!
The whipped cream
Ok this is my last point. For the whipped cream, I made it fully to taste.
So you can change it up if you want. I made it with double cream, icing sugar and rose water. If you want a stronger rose water flavour, add more, if you want it to be sweeter, add more icing sugar.
Now let’s get into the recipe!
Gulab Jamun Cupcakes
Ingredients
Makes: 12
- For the cupcakes:
125g softened unsalted butter
125ml vegetable oil
125g granulated sugar
125g brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 eggs
250g self-raising flour
60ml warm milk
12 small gulab jamuns
- For the whipped cream:
400ml double cream
80g icing sugar
2 tbsp rose water
12 small gulab jamuns (to decorate)
Some chopped pistachios (to decorate)
Directions
- Making the cupcakes:
- Start by pre-heating your oven to 180c/350f. Also add your cupcake liners to your cupcake tin.
- In a bowl, add the butter, oil, both sugars and the vanilla. Beat these together for 5 minutes. An electric mixer works best for this, if you're doing it by hand just mix for as long as you can.
- Add in 2 of the eggs into this, whisk, then add in the remaining 2 eggs. Now add in the flour and milk and whisk just until you get a smooth batter.
- Pour some of this batter into the bottom of the cupcake cases, press a gulab jamun into this and then pour some batter on top of the gulab jamun. You want the cupcake cases to be around 3/4 of the way full.
- Bake these for around 25-30 minutes, or until a tooth pick comes out clean.
- Once they're baked, leave them to cool completely.
- Making the whipped cream:
- Add the double cream, icing sugar and rose water into a large bowl and whip this until it thickens and you get firm peaks.
- Leave this in the fridge until you're ready to use it.
- Decorating the cupcakes:
- Once the cupcakes have completely cooled, you can add the whipped cream on top.
- I used a piping bag with a large star tip. I piped the whipped cream onto the cupcakes, sprinkled some pistachios over this, then added a gulab jamun on top and then that is it, enjoy!
