Passionfruit Cake

Meet my gorgeous Passionfruit Cake ☀️ This simple loaf cake boasts a soft and super moist crumb and a crisp, sugary crust.

It’s bursting with passionfruit flavour, thanks to oodles of fresh passionfruit pulp and zingy orange zest.

Drizzled with a two-ingredient passionfruit icing while it’s still warm, means this cake is extra moist and extra flavourful. Best of all, it’s super simple to make!

Why you will love this recipe

• Quick and easy: It’s surprisingly quick and easy to make.
• So moist: The cake is surprisingly soft and moist (and stays that way for days).
• Full of flavour: It’s bursting with passionfruit flavour.
• Freezer-friendly: You can freeze the cake to enjoy at a later date.

You don’t need any hard-to-find ingredients to make this beautiful buttery Passionfruit Cake. Fresh passionfruit is the way to go here (more on that below), but here’s a snapshot of some of the key ingredients:

• Unsalted butter: Butter gives this cake oodles of beautiful buttery flavour.
• Caster sugar: Or granulated sugar.
• Vanilla bean paste: Or vanilla extract will work.
• Fresh passionfruit: I tested this recipe using fresh passionfruit (which works wonderfully well). You can use 100% passionfruit pulp but beware that most canned passion fruit syrup or passion fruit pulp has water and sugar added to it. That’s not ideal for this cake as it will alter the taste and texture. You want pure, fresh passionfruit pulp or lilikoi puree if possible.
• Greek or natural style yogurt: Yogurt is the secret ingredient in this cake that makes it super moist. If you don’t have full fat Greek or natural-style yogurt, full fat sour cream would be the next best thing.
• Orange zest: Fresh orange zest helps to lift the cake and enhance the vibrancy of the passionfruit.
• Icing sugar: Or powdered sugar or confectioners sugar will work here.

See recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and measurements.

Here’s how to make my passionfruit loaf in five simple steps. Full detailed instructions are included in the recipe card below:

1. Beat together the butter and sugar using an electric mixer until creamy and pale.
2. Add vanilla and eggs, one at a time. Beat until combined.
3. In a separate bowl, stir together fresh passionfruit pulp and yogurt.
4. Add flour, baking powder, salt and orange zest to creamed butter, followed by passionfruit yogurt.
5. Stir using a spatula until combined. Cake batter will be very thick. Pour batter into a 9 by 5 inch loaf pan to bake.

Passionfruit Cake is then baked until golden and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Leave cake to cool slightly on a wire rack before pouring over the passionfruit glaze.

How to make passionfruit icing

Passionfruit icing is made using just two ingredients: icing sugar (or powdered sugar) and fresh passionfruit. It makes for a perfect drippy glaze that can be poured over a warm cake. Here’s how to make it:

1. Add sifted icing sugar to a large bowl.
2. Add passionfruit pulp and stir until smooth.

I prefer to leave the seeds of the passionfruit in for ease. If you want to remove them, you can sieve your passionfruit pulp before adding it to your icing sugar.

Just keep in mind you’ll need more passionfruit to make up the volume though!

And don’t forget to sift your icing sugar first for a lump-free icing.

Fresh passionfruit or canned passionfruit?

When I designed this recipe, I wanted to create a flavourful Passionfruit Cake that really popped with passionfruit flavour.

During my research and recipe testing process, I noted that much of the passionfruit pulp sold at supermarkets contained added water and sugar – and was not 100% pulp.

This weakened the passionfruit flavour and also changed the ratio of liquid and sugar in the recipe.

Using only fresh passionfruit ensures both the cake and the icing boast maximum passionfruit flavour every time.

If you can’t get hold of fresh passionfruit, you can use lilikoi puree. Or wait until the next passionfruit season – it’ll be worth the wait!

Recipe tips

Here are my expert tips to ensure your Passionfruit Cake turns out perfect every time:

1. Use a baking scale: To ensure accuracy, I recommend using a baking scale to measure your ingredients – particularly your butter and flour. Too much flour will mean your cake will be dry, too much butter, oily and wet.
2. Choose the right cake pan: I recommend using a 9 by 5 inch loaf pan for best results. That’s what I’ve used here. If you change the size or shape of the loaf, you will have to adjust the cooking time. For example: a large 8-inch round cake will cook much faster.
3. Don’t overmix your cake batter: Once you have added all the ingredients, simply stir the cake batter using a spatula or large metal spoon until no more streaks of flour remain. Your cake batter will be super thick – this is fine. Over-mixing your cake batter will make your cake dry and tough.
4. Add icing while cake is warm: The perfect time to add your passionfruit glaze on top of the cake is while it is still warm from the oven. This will ensure the icing sinks down into the cake, helping to create a moist, flavourful crumb, and a lovely crisp crust.