Passion Fruit Cake with Milk Chocolate Frosting
My dream birthday cake...
Okay so we’re technically a week out from my birthday, but I promised myself that this year I would develop my dream birthday cake. I decided that, even if I was late, I should just do it anyway. I suppose this isn’t my forever dream cake, though, I just haven’t been able to stop thinking about doing some kind of passion fruit chocolate number lately. Besides, my dream birthday cake has long been Beatty’s Chocolate Cake, popularized by the Barefoot Contessa herself, Ina Garten.
The final iteration of this cake turned out a little different from what I planned. I bought sweetened shredded coconut to fold into the cake layers, and then forgot to put it in. I also bought coconut milk to sweeten with sugar and brush on the cake layers as a soak, but then I forgot to do that, too. I trekked into manhattan to buy $17-worth of passion fruits to put the seeds and pulp on top of the passion fruit curd filling for the filling. Guess what I forgot to do while assembling.
I only have one 8-inch cake pan that I really like and I couldn’t just use it for both layers because you kind of need to bake this batter right away. Ingenuity struck (for once) when I took an 8-inch baking ring that I’ve had lying around forever and placed it on a lined quarter sheet tray. It worked nearly as well! It’s important to cool chiffon cakes upside down so their delicate structure doesn’t collapse under the weight of gravity. This is also why we don’t grease the sides of the tin: so that the cake can climb up the tin walls in the oven and has something to hang on to while cooling.
Here’s the thing, though. Because I employed a chiffon cake method, I’m actually glad I didn’t use the shredded coconut mix-in, as I now think that could have been disastrous. I have a feeling those shreds might have sliced into the precious the precious air pockets of my whipped egg whites, popping them and sinking my beautiful sponge. Along with a bit of baking powder (it’s not cheating) the meringue is the main leavener of the cake. Alternatively, what if the coconut just weighed the feathery light crumb down? I’d have to test it again to know, but I think the milk soak will bring enough of coconut flavor and the perfect amount of moisture I was needing.
As for the passionfruit curd, it is delicious: tangy, bright, floral, with just enough butter to set it and keep it creamy. If you can find it at the store, frozen seedless passionfruit puree works perfectly for the curd, but I had trouble tracking down the refrigerated pulp with seeds. From some cursory research, it seems like it can be found at some Latino or Thai markets, or you can order it online. In the end, i couldn’t find any in-person and that’s why I had to go buy the whole fruit at the most confusing store ever: Eataly. It was worth it to top the cake with the bright orange pulp studded with pretty seeds, but it would have been more worth it if I could have also remembered to drizzle it onto the curd filling as well.
I knew I wanted a creamy, shiny coat of milk chocolate frosting adorning this cake. The richness and ….. well, milkiness, tame the sour passion fruit so they sing in harmony.
So, yes, I’m going to give directions for the milk soak since I believe the cake — which is perfectly spongey but otherwise plain and not as rich as a sponge cake, for instance — needs it. But feel free to omit any of the refrigerated fresh pulp and just use the seedless passion fruit puree in the freezer section for the curd.
This is absolutely a recipe that can be broken up and completed in several days, although you could also do it in one. The passionfruit curd, cake layers, and milk soak can all be prepped days in advance, as long as they are wrapped/covered well and stored in the fridge. The only think that should be made day of is the frosting as it doesn’t come to room temperature well once whipped and chilled.
Ingredients
