PASSION FRUIT SHEET CAKE WITH PASSION FRUIT BUTTERCREAM AND MACADAMIA NUT BRITTLE
Passion fruit is one of those fruits that are not available in abundance everywhere. You will find them in some grocery stores but not all of them. I usually get mine from Sprouts when I want to make something with them. They are not cheap though, each passion fruit is for like $3.
I actually took the seeds from a passion fruit and planted them in a pot, outside in my garden. I see saplings now, but they are slow in growth. They are a tropical fruit and require a lot of water and sunshine.
I have a friend, who lives close by. She has the most beautiful passion fruit vine in her backyard. They have actually built a wire grid that is about 12 feet long, and it sits on 2 poles holding it around 6 feet high. The vine grows over it, and has the passion fruit hanging through the wire grid! So beautiful! When they turn ripe, my friend will share them with me, because she knows my love for passion fruit!
Nick over at Rincon Tropics, www.rincontropics.com , has been very generous in sending me passion fruits from his farm. He is a sixth generation farmer, and he grows passion fruits, avocados, eureka lemons and dragon fruit. I have tasted the passion fruits and avocados. The avocados are the best that I have ever eaten ever in my life! And so are the passion fruits! They are very juicy, tart, and DO make the best desserts in town!
I really wanted to make a passion fruit sheet cake, something that my family would enjoy. They love passion fruit as well, just like me. This time I did not add any spices, just a plain simple cake, with fresh passion fruit juice, a passion fruit buttercream, and I topped it off with a macadamia nut brittle, and some decorative touches to give the cake an elegant finish.
HOW TO EXTRACT PASSION FRUIT JUICE FROM THE PULP?
- Set aside a medium bowl with a medium sized sieve.
- Cut the passion fruit in half.
- Using a spoon, remove all the pulp into the sieve
- Repeat for all the passion fruits.
- Using a rubber spatula, press against the sieve, holding it with one hand, and squeeze out as much juice as possible.
- Make sure to clean the bottom of the sieve with the spatula to extract any possible juice.
- Store the passion fruit juice in an airtight container, or glass jar, or a deli container, and in the freezer, upto 2 months.
HOW TO STORE PASSION FRUIT PULP?
You can also store just the passion fruit after extraction, in an airtight container or a deli container. Store it in the freezer for upto 2 months.
Defrost it in the fridge, strain and extract the passion fruit juice per the above method and use it in all the different ways possible!
TIPS FOR A MOIST CAKE:
- The cake itself has creme fraiche, which makes the cake really moist and very soft. The passion fruit flavor comes from the fresh passion fruit juice that is put into the batter.
- You have to make sure that the cake is not overbaked. At the 30 minute mark, test the cake by putting the toothpick in the center of the cake, to test for doneness. If the toothpick comes out clean then your cake is done and just right. If there is batter stuck to the toothpick, the cake needs a few more minutes.
- Test for doneness again after 5 more minutes. The edges of the cake will be slightly brown and the top will be golden brown in color.
- Another way to test is to hear your cake crackling. If the cake is crackling, you know that it is done. You almost have to ‘hear’ your cake. It sounds weird but it is true!
- I also brush the cake with passion fruit syrup to keep the cake moist and tasting as passion fruity as possible!
The buttercream is made out of passion fruit juice again. It is really quite delicious and tastes of the tropics! This cake took me right back to Hawaii, on the beaches, with my feet in the sand, listening to the waves crashing against the shore. Sigh, if only!
I love decorating cakes. It is one thing that I truly enjoy! So I decided to pipe a decorative border with different piping tips around the cake. I also put some sprinkles for good measure. And made a macadamia nut brittle, to go along with the cake. The brittle is SO good by itself and great to munch on!
This cake will NOT last long in your home! It is a perfect party cake, since it is pretty big, baked in a 9*13 inch sheet pan. I can totally see this cake at a party and ofcourse there would be NO leftovers. Moist, tropical, tasty, tangy, sweet and delicious! What more do you require in a good cake?!
Make this cake, and do not forget to tag #thejamlab on Instagram and/or leave a sweet comment on this blog post! 🙂
Hope you are all doing well! I will start posting some Fall content soon! Until then!
XO
Amisha
Passion Fruit Sheet Cake with Passion Fruit Buttercream
Notes
- Store the cake in the fridge if not eaten within a day.
- Cut it up into pieces and store in an airtight container in the fridge for upto a week.
- You can store the cake in the freezer for upto a month. Make sure it is in an airtight container.
- To eat the cake, remove it atleast 20 to 30 minutes in advance so that it comes to room temperature, and will be soft enough to eat it.
Ingredients
- Passion Fruit Sheet Cake:
- 2 ½ cups (300 gms) all purpose flour
- 2 tbsp (24 gms) corn starch
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 tsp table salt
- 1 cup (2 sticks/226 gms) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 ½ (300 gms) cups granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs
- ⅓ cup creme fraiche
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract or 2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste
- ⅓ cup passion fruit juice (from about 6 to 7 passion fruits)
- ¾ cup whole milk, at room temperature
- Passion Fruit Simple Syrup:
- 3 tbsp passion fruit juice (about 1 to 2 passion fruits)
- 1 tbsp granulated sugar
- Passion Fruit Buttercream:
- 1 cup (2 sticks/226 gms) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 5 cups (600 gms) sifted confectioner’s sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 tbsp passion fruit juice (about 1 to 2 passion fruits)
- 1 tbsp whole milk
- Macadamia Nut Brittle:
- ¾ cup macadamia nuts, coarsely chopped
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- Decoration:
- Americolor gel paste(different colors)
- Sprinkles
- Raspberries
- Equipment:
- 9*13 Sheet pan
- Parchment paper for the pan
- Small offset spatula
- Bench scraper
- Pastry brush
- 2 12 inch pastry bags
- French star tip
- Round tip
Instructions
- Passion Fruit Sheet Cake:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease the sheet pan with cooking spray. Add parchment paper and spray the cooking spray again. In a medium bowl, add the all purpose flour, corn starch, baking powder, baking soda, salt and whisk to combine.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, add in the granulated sugar, and butter, and start at low speed for one minute. Increase the speed to the highest and let it run for 2 minutes until the sugar has dissolved in the butter. Scrap the sides of the bowl to bring the mixture down.
- Now add in the 3 eggs, one at a time, mixing after the addition of each egg. Add in the vanilla extract and whisk to combine.
- Now add in the creme fraiche and vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste and passion fruit juice and mix to combine.
- Slowly add in the flour mixture in 2 additions, alternating with the milk and combine at low speed, after each addition of flour and milk. Do not overmix. Scrap the sides of the bowl.
- Add the batter into the sheet pan. Bake the cake for about 35 minutes or until the cake tester comes out clean from the middle of the cake pan.
- Let the cake cool for about an hour.
- Passion Fruit Simple Syrup:
- Add the sugar to the passion fruit juice and mix. Let it sit for 10 minutes. The sugar will gradually dissolve and the mixture will look cohesive.
- Macadamia Nut Brittle:
- Keep a jelly roll pan ready with parchment paper.
- In a small saucepan, over medium heat, add the granulated sugar mixture and let it melt with the heat slowly. The process will take about 5-7 minutes. As the sugar starts melting, use a rubber spatula and gently stir it to mix the sugar and melted sugar around, till it becomes golden in color. Switch off the gas, and add the pecans immediately and stir it around. Immediately pour the mixture on the parchment paper, and spread it into an even layer. Let it cool for about 30 minutes. Now it is breakable and usable.
- Passion Fruit Buttercream:
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, add the unsalted butter, and salt, and whisk starting at slow speed and then gradually increasing to high. Whisk for a minute. Add the confectioner’s sugar, passion fruit juice, vanilla extract and milk, and gradually mix at a slow speed, so as not to let the sugar fly everywhere.
- Increase the speed to high and mix for 30 seconds to a minute until well combined.
- Remove about 1 cup *2 of buttercream into 2 bowls. Add the yellow in one and orange in the other bowl (if you want to decorate the border of the cake with different piping tips and colors). Using separate rubber spatulas, mix well to combine, until the color is cohesive. In 2 12 inch pastry bags, fitted with the round tip in one, and french star tip in the other, add the yellow and orange buttercreams. Using a bench scraper, scrap the buttercream all the way to the bottom of the piping tip. Twist the tops and keep the bags aside.
- Add a tiny bit of yellow color in the mixer bowl, and whisk until the color is cohesive.
- Assembly:
- Using a pastry brush, gently brush the top of the cake with the passion fruit syrup, evenly all over.
- Add the buttercream from the mixer bowl onto the cake. Using a small offset spatula, spread it evenly all over the cake. I smoothen the cake out by dipping the spatula in hot water, wiping it with a clean dry towel and then running it over the almost smooth surface. I keep repeating until I get a smooth surface throughout.
- Using the piping bags, use your creativity and pipe all around the cake with the 2 colors. I used sprinkles to add another decorative element to the cake.
- Break the brittle with your bare hands into small shards, and put them around the cake for yet another decorative touch.
- Add raspberries for a color pop effect!
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