This Lilikoi Passion Fruit Cake is a tropical introduction to summertime! With the infusion of passion fruit and airy cream, the cake is light, making it a perfect warm weather treat!
I heard of Lilikoi Cakes in several pamphlets from the Hawaiian agricultural booklets of the 70s and 80s. These cakes were basic white cakes with a passion fruit filling and a basic buttercream.
Is it bad to have two Hawaiian themed cakes on a blog? Living within swampy and soupy humidity, it’d be a godsend to have the trade winds of Hawaii! So I decided to that a new look at these Lilikoi cakes.
I decided to go with this yellow cake recipe from American Test Kitchen which fuses the methods of creaming and folding. Yes the recipe has butter, but it also has oil and whipped egg whites, mirroring the levity of chiffon cakes. It’s sunny yellow color paired well with the cheery hue of passion fruit. I folded the passion fruit curd into whipped cream and cream cheese to create a delicate airy filling. Adding the passion fruit curd into the frosting created a full, rounded flavor of passion fruit.The Lilikoi Passion Fruit Cake has a misty tartness of passion fruit and crunchy bite of walnuts that oddly works. The walnuts create a mild butteriness that off sets the tang from the passion and richness of the heavy cream.
With summer heat building up, this Lilikoi Passion Fruit Cake creates a getaway to a land of refreshing trade winds!
Like me on Facebook and follow me on Pinterest and Instagram
- For the Lilikoi Butter Cake:
- 1 cup cake flour
- 1 ½ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon fine salt
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 3 large eggs separated, plus 3 large egg yolks
- 1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 10 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar, divided
- 1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup chopped walnuts
- For the Passion Fruit Curd:
- ⅓ cup passion fruit juice puree
- 2 large eggs plus 1 egg yolk
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon heavy cream
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon fine salt
- For the Passion Fruit Cream Filling:
- 1 ¼ cups whipping cream
- 1 ¼ cups powdered sugar, divided
- 8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
- ¾ cup passion fruit curd
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- For the Passion Fruit Frosting:
- 1 ½ cups (12 ounces, 3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 6 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
- 9 to 10 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons passion fruit curd
- 1 tablespoon heavy cream
- For assembling the Lilikoi passion Fruit Cake:
- Orange food dye
- 1/4 cup chopped walnuts
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease three 8-inch cake pans with baking spray, set aside.
- Whisk flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together, set aside.
- In a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, whip egg whites and cream of tartar on medium speed until soft peaks, gradually add 1/4 cup granulated sugar, and raise speed to medium-high until stiff peaks form, about 2 to 3 minutes. Set egg whites aside.
- Fit mixer with paddle attachment. Cream butter, oil, and sugar together, about 3 minutes on medium-high speed. Gradually add eggs and egg yolks until completely combined. Scrape bowl and paddle as needed. Reduce speed to low, add dry-mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with dry-mixture. Add in walnuts, folding in by hand. Stir in 1/3 of egg whites, this will aerate the batter. Fold in remaining 2/3 egg whites.
- Divide between pans, smoothing out top and tap against the counter to release any pockets of air. Bake for 20 to 24 minutes, rotating halfway. A toothpick inserted should come out mostly clean with a few moist, not wet, crumbs. Let cakes rest in pans for two minutes before inverting onto a wire rack to cool completely.
- In a small saucepan over medium heat, warm passion fruit puree until hot but not simmering. Whisk eggs, sugar. Slowly whisk hot passion fruit puree into egg-sugar mixture. Pour back into the saucepan and cook over medium heat, about 3 minutes, whisking constantly. Once it thickens and coats the back of a spoon, remove from heat, add butter, heavy cream, vanilla, and salt. Pour into a heat-proof bowl, cover in plastic wrap and cool, refrigerating until ready to assemble.
- Whip heavy cream at medium-high speed until foamy, add ¼ cup powdered sugar and whip until medium peaks form, about 2 to 3 minutes.
- Fit mixer with paddle attachment, beat cream cheese and passion fruit curd until smooth and blended, about 1 minute at medium speed. Add remaining powdered sugar and vanilla, beating to combine.
- Fold whipped cream into cream cheese mixture, refrigerate until ready to assemble.
- In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat butter and cream cheese until pale in color and aerated, about 3 minutes, on medium speed. Gradually add in powdered sugar followed by passion fruit curd, vanilla, salt, and heavy cream. Scrape bowl and paddle as need. Raise speed to medium-high and beat until fluffy, about 2 minutes.
- Tint ½ cup frosting with orange food dye.
- Apply a bit of frosting onto a cake board. Place the lime cake onto the board and apply a perimeter of frosting, filling in with Passion Fruit Cream Filling. Repeat this process with the second layer, finally topping with the third layer. Give a thin crumb coat of the frosting, chill for 15 minutes, and then apply a thicker layer of the frosting. Decorate with orange frosting, garnish with walnuts if desired.