Years ago I used to go to a café (now sadly closed) with a friend and one of their specialities was a delightful passionfruit cake. I think I only ever tried it once, and I can’t really remember how it tasted other than it was a layer cake and had a lovely zingy passion fruit flavour but the idea has stayed with me.
I just can’t seem to get enough of passion fruit at the moment, that zingy tropical flavour is hitting all the right flavour notes that I’m after, so it was definitely the time to experiment with passion fruit in a cake form!
When I was planning this experiment it came to mind that passionfruit is zingy and sour, not unlike lemon or lime, and there isn’t much better than a zippy lemon drizzle cake, especially in these warmer sun filled months.
So I had to try a passionfruit drizzle and see if it worked – the answer is yes, it most certainly does work! The sour tropical flavours work perfectly with the sugar to give a heavenly tropical crunchy topping. You don’t have to stir some of the seeds back into the sugary topping but I think it looks quite attractive and definitely highlights the passionfruit in the cake. When it came to the actual recipe development, I found that adding some lime to the passionfruit not only enhanced the flavour but also added a brightness that I think really works.
To make the passionfruit juice, cut each passionfruit in half and scoop the flesh and seeds into a small sieve. Press the juice through the sieve leaving behind the seeds. To use the seeds, wash off any flesh and then add back to the juice. For this recipe you will need 2-3 passionfruits.
The drizzle on top of this cake ends up like a zingy, crunchy sugary topping, which really showcases the passion fruit flavour. You’ll be hard pressed not to lick your lips with delight when eating this cake!
Passionfruit Drizzle Cake
Equipment
- Makes one 2lb loaf cake
Ingredients
- 200 g self-raising flour
- 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 100 g caster sugar
- a pinch of salt
- 100 ml sunflower oil
- 100 ml dairy-free milk
- 50 ml passionfruit juice
- 1/2 tsp lime juice
- zest of 1 lime
- 1 tbsp passionfruit juice
- For the topping:
- 75 g caster sugar
- 1 tbsp passionfruit juice
- 1 tsp lime juice
- 1 tsp passionfruit seeds
Instructions
- Sift together the flour, bicarb and salt. Stir in the sugar and lime zest
- In a separate bowl, combine the dairy-free milk, passionfruit lime juice and oil.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and gently mix until combined into a smooth mixture
- Pour into a lined loaf tin.
- Bake at 180 degrees centigrade for approx. 30 minutes (until a knife comes out clean)
- While the cake is baking, make the topping.
- Combine the sugar, passionfruit juice, lime juice and passionfruit seeds to make a thick paste.
- When the cake is cooked, take out of oven but leave in the tin and stab all over the top with a knife. Evenly pour over 1tbsp passionfruit juice. Leave to cool slightly
- After about 5 minutes spread the sugar paste over the top of the cake and leave to cool completely.
Notes
This cake is best eaten within a couple of days.
