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Passion Fruit Olive Oil Cake

3.3

(3)

Passion fruit olive oil cake from cookbook Piecemeal
Photo by Kathryn Pauline

This recipe is inspired by chef and cookbook author Lucy Cufflin’s lemon curd cake, with its charmingly wonky swirls of curd in a sea of butter cake. This one marries olive oil and passion fruit instead, with its own lopsided charm. Here's how to make your own passion fruit curd at home.

You can also use store-bought lemon curd in place of passion fruit curd.

Recipe information

  • Total Time

    45 minutes

  • Yield

    8 servings

Ingredients

1⁄2 cup (105 g) extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for greasing the pan
3⁄4 cup (150 g) sugar
3 large eggs
2⁄3 cup (175 g) passion fruit curd for the batter, plus 2⁄3 cup (175 g) for the swirls
1⅓ cups (175 g) all-purpose flour
1¼ tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Preheat oven to 375°. Grease a 9" cake pan with extra-virgin olive oil and line bottom with a parchment round.

    Step 2

    Place 1⁄2 cup (105 g) extra-virgin olive oil, 3⁄4 cup (150 g) sugar, 3 large eggs, and 2⁄3 cup (175 g) passion fruit curd in a mixing bowl. Stir together until completely homogenous.

    Step 3

    Sift 1⅓ cups (175 g) all-purpose flour, 1¼ tsp. salt, and 1 tsp. baking powder into wet ingredients. Stir just until combined (do not overmix).

    Step 4

    Scrape batter into prepared cake pan, smooth out, then top it evenly with spoonfuls of remaining 2⁄3 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).

    Step 5

    Bake for about 30 minutes, until a tester inserted into center of 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 cake onto a parchment-covered plate, peel parchment from the bottom, and invert again onto a wire rack. Peel parchment from top and let cake cool before slicing.

Cover of Piecemeal, featuring 4 different dishes
Reprinted with permission from Piecemeal by Kathryn Pauline, copyright Kathryn Pauline 2023. Photographs by Kathryn Pauline. Published by Chronicle Books. Buy the full book from Amazon or Bookshop.

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