Passionfruit and Buttermilk Cake
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1 hrs 10 mins
20 mins
50 mins
Ready Time
Preparation
Cooking
Serves
Phoebe Wood is back with delicious. as Food Director after a three year hiatus that included a sojourn in New York, a stint on Masterchef TV and several years as Food Editor at SBS Feast magazine.
After years in hospitality working at celebrated Sydney restaurants such as Spice Temple, Sails on Lavender Bay and Duke, Phoebe began her career in food publishing in 2009 as delicious. Food Assistant. After working her way up to Assistant Food Editor at delicious., Phoebe left Sydney to embark on a holiday in New York, with the aim of eating a doughnut a day and researching her cookbook on American pie. She returned to Australia to work in the MasterChef Australia test kitchen, then took on the role of Food Editor at SBS Feast magazine, where she was able to realise her global experiences and appreciation of food.
Now she has come full circle to return to delicious. creating impressive yet effortless recipes for our print and online audience, be it entertaining feasts, quick fast family dinners and wicked cakes and pies. An avid baker, Phoebe found a new love for a classic American pie crust in the States and savours the challenge of turning whatever is in her fridge into an artful and beautiful cake. Follow @phoeberosewood for regular updates from her kitchen.
The Art of Buttermilk
Buttermilk is a soured milk that has a glorious viscous texture somewhere between milk and cream. When paired with a raising agent (in this case, the self-raising flour, which has sodium bicarbonate added to it) the acidic qualities react to add a beautiful lightness to batters, and not only adds texture, but a subtle flavour profile to cakes, pancakes and scones. For baking purposes, a cheat’s buttermilk can be made by combining milk and lemon juice or vinegar, or thinning down a natural, unsweetened yoghurt with milk.
Ingredients
- 200g caster sugar
- 250g unsalted butter, chopped, softened
- 4 eggs 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup (250ml) buttermilk
- 400g self-raising flour, sifted
- ½ cup (125ml) passionfruit pulp (from about 5 passionfruit)
- 1 cup (240g) sour cream
Passionfruit Icing
- 125g unsalted butter, softened
- 2 cups (300g) pure icing sugar
- 125g cream cheese, softened
- Pulp of 1 passionfruit
Method
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Preheat oven to 160°C. Grease and line the base and sides of two 20cm cake pans. Place sugar and butter in an electric mixer and beat until thick and pale. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla, then add the buttermilk and self-raising flour in 3 alternating batches. Fold through the passionfruit pulp.
- Divide batter between cake pans and bake for 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre of the cakes comes out clean. Cool completely in the pan
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Place one of the cakes on a serving plate. Spread with sour cream and sandwich with the second cake. Refrigerate.
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For the icing, place the butter and 1½ cups (225g) icing sugar in an electric mixer and beat until pale. Add cream cheese and beat for 6 minutes or until pale and smooth. Spread over the cake, scraping the sides to create a ‘naked’ effect, and chill.
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Place remaining 1/2 cup (75g) icing sugar in a bowl and add passionfruit pulp. Stir until smooth and runny. Pour over cake before serving.
The photograph and recipe was contributed to Food Thinkers by Phoebe Wood .
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