VEGAN GULKAND CAKE
A belated Eid Mubarak to everyone!!!
I actually prepared this Gulkand Cake
on Eid to share with few friends but was tied up with few important things and could
not update the blog. Since it was a
festive occasion my idea was to use flavors which are associated with
Ramzan. To break the fast during iftar;
roohafza is a very popular beverage, hence the idea stuck to bake a cake using
the desi flavor of gulkand and roohafza.
I even chose to bake the cake in a very old world style inspired by my
instagram friend Vajeea who introduced me to the baking cakes in a sauce pan on
stove top. This was my first attempt at
baking in a saucepan and to my utter surprise the cake turned out to be spongy,
moist and perfectly cooked and also not cracked on the top.
Baking cakes in pressure cooker is a one very popular alternative to
oven but those who do not own a pressure cooker which is quite rare in India
still can bake a cake in a saucepan. Isn’t
it amazing??
Since I was baking this way for the first time I wanted to be extra
careful, so placed a tava/griddle beneath the saucepan. Tava/griddle helps
diffuse the heat better. Also choose a big
saucepan with a high dome lid, as there should be enough room for the cake to
rise.
In this recipe I am using lesser quantity of sugar since both gulkand
and roohafza both are very sweet. If you
like it more sweet feel free to adjust the sweetness to your liking.
Gulkand cake is a vegan and egg less cake, so do give this recipe a try.
Preparation Time : 20 mins
Baking/Cooking Time : 35 mins
Serves : 7”
cake
Ingredients:
·
1 1/4th cup all-purpose flour
·
3/4th cup lukewarm water
·
1/4th cup sugar
·
1/4th cup oil
·
3 tbsp gulkand
·
1 tbsp roohafza/rose syrup + more to drizzle
over the cake
·
1 tsp baking soda
·
Juice of 1 lemon
·
A pinch of salt
Method:
Place
the tava/griddle on medium flame. On top
of the tava place a wide bottomed saucepan/kadai and heat it for approximately
10 minutes.
Grease
and flour the cake pan or mould.
Sift all-purpose flour and salt
twice and keep aside.
To lukewarm water; add sugar,
lemon juice, gulkand and roohafza/rose syrup. Mix till the all the sugar is
dissolved, it will take approximately a minute since the water is warm.
Now pour the oil to the wet
ingredients and give a gentle mix.
Now add baking soda and again
give a gentle stir. The mixture will become all frothy but within few seconds
it will settle down.
Start adding the flour in three
batches to the wet ingredients.
Gently fold in all the dry
ingredients. Be careful not to over mix
the batter.
Pour the cake mixture into the
cake pan. Tap the pan on kitchen counter
few times to release any air bubbles.
Place the cake in the sauce pan
and close the lid and bake it for 30 -35 minutes. Keep a close eye.
Insert the toothpick in the
center of the cake to check whether it is fully cooked or not. The toothpick should come out clean, if not
continue to bake for few more minutes.
Un mould the cake after
slightly cooling it down for 10 to 15 minutes.
Gulkand
cake
tastes great when served warm with a drizzle of roohafza/rose syrup.