Passion Fruit Yoghurt Cake

It has been quite a while since I made cake.  I don't count brownies as cake so technically this is the first cake of the year and the first cake-y thing I have baked since October, when I made Pumpkin Sandwich Cakes, and the first big cake I have made since September, when I made my birthday cake.  Wow, I hadn't realised that it had been so long.  I've been terribly biscuit obsessed of late.

Anyway, I do believe I have ventured into a new territory with this one.  I have a vague recollection of expressing a desire to try making a yoghurt cake.  It may have been here, it may have been in conversation with someone else or even a random declaration to myself.  I am not sure.  I am just sure I said it somewhere.  However, I hadn't gotten around to it until I stumbled upon this recipe (through Pinterest).  The thing that caught my eye was actually the passion fruit bit.  I've not used passion fruit before and it's been ages since I baked with fruit that wasn't lemons or dried cranberries.  Whilst it wasn't going to appeal to me, I had a sneaking suspicion it would appeal to the lovely ladies at Markinch Primary.  It had been a while since I had sent something their way and they provided me with the perfect excuse to try this recipe out.

For the most part, it was fairly easy to follow.  The thing that really gave me trouble was the baking since the timings in the original recipe didn't work for me.  I am thinking this is down to the dimensions of my pan though.  The size of loaf pan is not stated in the recipe so I made a guess that it was a 1kg/2lb tin I should use but I am aware that my tin is narrower and deeper than others.  Or it could be my oven.  The temperatures seem to have gone a little wonky of late.  Or even my mixing.  I believe I overbeat my mixture somewhat, which is also why it sank slightly after I removed it from the oven.  That annoyed me since it had been looking so lovely and risen before that happened.  Ah well.

Despite the sinking, and the slightly close crumb I ended up with, my giftees enjoyed it and it was promptly devoured on Monday.  They said it was lovely and moist and would make a really great dessert if it was served with ice cream.  The only criticism was that finding a seed can be a bit scary when you get to a certain age because you worry it might be a tooth!  That part of the cake is optional though.  I just thought it looked nicer with them in and figured it would be fine since people do eat that bit when they eat passion fruit.

 

Recipe - adapted from Simply Delicious


Cake:

• 250g/9oz plain flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 250ml/9fl.oz Greek yoghurt
• 200g/7oz caster sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 125ml/4.5fl.oz rapeseed oil
• 6 to 8 passion fruit

White Chocolate Drizzle:

• 115g/4oz white chocolate
• 1 tbsp warm water
• 2 passion fruit

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4 and grease and line a 1kg/2lb loaf tin with baking parchment. 
2. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl and set aside.
3. Remove the pulp and seeds from the passion fruit and strain through a sieve to remove the seeds.  You want to end up with about 125ml/4.5fl.oz of pulp.  If you want, you can add 2 teaspoons of seeds back in afterwards.
4. Put the yoghurt, caster sugar, eggs, oil and passion fruit pulp together in a medium bowl and mix until smooth.
5. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and fold in until just combined.  Be careful not to overmix.
6. Pour the mixture into the prepared loaf tin.
7. Bake.  Timing will likely vary depending on the dimensions of the tin in use.  It will range somewhere between 45 minutes to 1 hour and 20 minutes.  Test the cake is cooked through by inserting a skewer into the middle of the cake and pulling it back out again.  If it is clean when it is removed, the cake is done.
8. Transfer to a wire rack but allow the cake to cool completely in the tin before removing.
9. When the cake has cooled, make the drizzle by chopping up the white chocolate and putting it in a heatproof bowl with the water and pulp from the passion fruit.  (You can strain out the seeds if you want).
10. Set the bowl over a pan of gently simmering water, without letting the bowl touch the water, and allow the chocolate to melt.
11. Once melted, stir the mixture to combine.
12. Remove cake from its tin and place on the wire rack with a sheet of greaseproof paper underneath.
13. Drizzle the white chocolate mixture over the top of the cake.
14. Allow to set slightly before serving.