This passion fruit cake layers bold flavors with a simple, vibrant swirl technique. But that swirl is not just there for show!
Here’s the thing: passion fruit is basically delicious tropical water. Add it straight to cake batter and you risk a soggy, dense, flavorless situation. But turn it into a curd, and everything changes. The flavor concentrates, the texture custardizes, and suddenly you’ve got an ingredient that actually wants to be in a cake.
Fold that passion fruit curd into the batter, spoon some more across the top, and swirl it into golden ribbons. Then throw it in the oven, and wind up with a cake that’s tart, sweet, squidgy, and big on passion fruit flavor.
Jump to the recipe to get started, or read on for some tips + step-by-step photos.
Tips for passion fruit cake success
General tips for cake success
These tips will up your baking game in many, many recipes, so keep these in mind whenever you are baking:
- Don’t over-mix the batter: This goes for any batter where you want a tender crumb. Once the liquid goes in, you want to mix it well, but not too well. If you overmix the batter, it will become gluey and the resulting cake will be tough and dry. Same goes for cookies, scones, pie crust, etc. We’re not making bread here!
- Toothpick a cake section, not a curd section: This is a good tip for any cake with gooey mix-ins: when you’re inserting a toothpick, don’t insert it into a curd blob, or you won’t get a very accurate result. Same goes for a cake with chocolate chunks, pieces of fruit, etc.
Tips for making the best passion fruit cake ever
- Use my recipe for passion fruit curd! It’s super easy, doesn’t use a double-boiler, has 0 straining, and I made a video in case you don’t have a thermometer and prefer to eyeball the texture instead. I highly recommend it for this recipe.
- Don’t accidentally add all the curd at once. I mean, it’s not like I would ever do something so ridiculous… 😳 lolll. But just in case, I have listed the passion fruit curd twice, once for the batter and once for the swirls. When shopping for ingredients, make sure you buy enough for the full amount (1⅓ cups or 350 grams).
- Follow the swirling instructions, and don’t over-swirl it. Over-swirling can seriously affect the texture of this cake, and not in a good way. You don’t want to accidentally stir the passion fruit topping into the cake batter. So when you swirl, go through each blob just once or twice. And if you’re unsure, err on the side of less swirling. Even if you do a good job, it will look completely over-swirled (the curd disappears into the batter almost immediately after swirling!). But don’t worry—as long as you’ve underdone the swirling, the curd and cake will differentiate as they bake.
Step-by-step photos
Here are some step-by-step photos, or check out the video at the bottom of the recipe card.
Preheat the oven to 375°F [190°C], oil a 9 in [23 cm] cake pan, and line the bottom with a parchment round.
Place the sugar, olive oil, eggs, and ⅔ cup [175 g] of the passion fruit curd in a mixing bowl. Stir together until completely homogenous.
Sift the flour, salt, and baking powder into the wet ingredients. Stir just until combined (do not overmix).
Scrape the batter into the prepared cake pan and smooth it out.
Top evenly with spoonfuls of the remaining ⅔ cup [175 g] passion fruit curd. You should end up with about 12 spoonfuls spaced evenly.
Drag the back of your spoon through the cake in figure-eights so that you catch each blob once or twice (don’t overswirl)
Bake for about 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake (avoiding the passion fruit) comes out clean.
Let it sit for about 3 minutes in the pan, then trace around the edge with a knife.
Invert the cake onto a parchment-covered plate, peel off the parchment from the bottom, and invert again onto a wire rack.
Peel the parchment off the top and let the cake cool before slicing.
I also wanted to give a quick shout out to Lucy Cufflin’s lemon curd cake, which majorly inspired this one with its charmingly wonky swirls of lemon curd in a sea of butter cake. This recipe marries olive oil and passion fruit instead, with its own lopsided charm. I highly recommend both!
Printpassion fruit cake
- Prep Time: 10 minutes*
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 8 slices
Ingredients
- ¾ cup [150 g] sugar
- ½ cup [105 g] extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for greasing the pan
- 3 large eggs
- ⅔ cup [175 g] passion fruit curd (for the batter)
- 1⅓ cups [175 g] all-purpose flour
- 1¼ tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking powder
- Another ⅔ cup [175 g] passion fruit curd (for the swirls)**
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F [190°C]. Oil a 9 in [23 cm] cake pan and line the bottom with a parchment round.
- Place the sugar, olive oil, eggs, and ⅔ cup [175 g] of the passion fruit curd in a mixing bowl. Stir together until completely homogenous.
- Sift the flour, salt, and baking powder into the wet ingredients. Stir just until combined (do not overmix).
- Scrape the batter into the prepared cake pan, smooth it out, and then top it evenly with spoonfuls of the remaining ⅔ cup [175 g] passion fruit curd. You should end up with about 12 spoonfuls spaced across the surface. Drag the back of your spoon through the cake in figure-eights so that you catch each blob once or twice. You should end up with thin swirls across the surface (don’t overswirl, or it will affect the texture of the cake).
- Bake for about 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake (avoiding the passion fruit) comes out clean. Let it sit for about 3 minutes in the pan, then trace around the edge with a knife, invert the cake onto a parchment-covered plate, peel off the parchment from the bottom, and invert again onto a wire rack. Peel the parchment off the top and let the cake cool before slicing.
Notes
* I wrote this recipe for people who have made my passion fruit curd recipe and want to use it up, but if you haven’t made the passion fruit curd yet, add 15 mins or so to the prep time.
** I wrote it this way to make sure you don’t accidentally add it all at once while quickly glancing at the ingredients list! But for easy shopping/cooking, that’s a total of 1⅓ cups [350 g] of passion fruit curd. If you make my passion fruit curd recipe, that’s enough for this cake + extra for serving at the table (or freezing).
So glad to see you are back to posting recipes! Have you tried this with hibiscus curd?
Aw thank you! I haven’t tried that, but I bet it would work well. I can’t be 100% sure, since I haven’t tried it, but I feel somewhat confident. lmk if you try it!