A Seriously Good Passionfruit Cake

Let me warn you: this is an unhealthy cake! Totally and utterly unhealthy. BUT if you want a refreshing flavour – especially around spring time when we all fancy refreshing things – then this is your cake.

I had a slice of this cake on a lovely sunny Saturday in February for the first time. After a huge walk in a park we had tea and a cake and although I always go for a chocolate cake, I was struck by the vivid yellow colour of this cake and made an exeption. I had absolutely no idea what it would taste like as it was not displayed but I knew: I wanted it. Badly.

How clever I was to go for it! I could not believe how nice the first bite was. ‘What’s this?’, I asked myself. It had a bit of a kick like lemon, but it was not lemon. I had to analyse every bite of it until the penny dropped: it was passionfruit. ‘I MUST make it at home’, I said to myself.

 

First I was looking for a passionfruit coulis recipe but I soon realised, a coulis is probably not the best for a sponge cake and the consistency of a curd would be better. I did find many passionfruit curd recipes, however, the number of egg yolks (6-8) put me off for a while. I did not give up and kept on searching until I found one which seemed to be alright. Then all I needed to do was to find a recipe for the sponge.

I hope you are excited by now, so let’s bake!

INGREDIENTS
(23cm round springform tin )
Sponge:
150g self-raising flour
150g non-salted butter
150g caster sugar (I always use less, in this case I used 90g)
2 eggs
1 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp milk
pinch of salt

Passionfruit curd:
6 passionfruits
1 egg
1 egg yolk
50g non-salted butter
75g caster sugar (I use less)
1 tsp cornflour

Buttercream:
100g non-salted butter
icing sugar

First I make the sponge. I greased and base lined the tin and pre-heated the oven 160C fan.

I mix the butter with the sugar and beat it for 2 minutes until it is fluffy. Then I add the eggs one by one. I stir the baking powder and the pinch of salt into the flour which I then add in two batches to the mixture. In the and I add the milk and stir it well.

I pour the mixture into the tin and bake it for 25-30 minutes. Once done, I set it aside to cool.

Meanwhile I make the passionfruit curd. I halve the passionfruits and scoop out the seeds into a sieve placed over a bowl. I press the juice from the seeds and discard the seeds. In a separate bowl I mix the egg, the egg yolk, the sugar and the cornflour and melt the butter in a small pan over a low heat, then wisk the passionfruit juice and the egg mix into the butter. I stir it continuously for a few minutes over medium heat until it starts to thicken, then I set it aside to cool. Once it is cool, I press the curd over a sieve to get a smooth consistency.

 

For the buttercream I beat the butter with a mixer for about 2 minutes until it is fluffy, then I gradually add the icing sugar. I cannot tell exact quantity as I always use less than prescribed. Once I get the right consistency (half hard), then I stop adding icing sugar.

Once the sponge has cooled down, I cut it into half, then sandwich the the cakes together with the buttercream and passionfruit curd and coat the top with buttercream and swirl the rest of the passionfruit curd on top. And there you go!

 

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Attention! This cake is very refreshing! Dangerously delicious.