Passion Fruit Butter Cake

Passion Fruit 百香果 aka 熱情果 sounds like an exotic fruit, is an egg sized fruit filled with wonderfully tart, bright orange pulp. Pulp is often eaten fresh, seeds are edible too. This highly aromatic fruit is most often used as a flavoring in drinks, desserts, sauces, and many other foods.
Medicinal properties: (from www.phytochemicals.info) The juice but mainly the leaves of passion fruit contain the alkaloids, including Harman, which has blood pressure lowering, sedative and antispasmodic action. The passion fruit leaves are used in many countries as medicines. The flower of passion fruit has a mild sedative and can help to induce sleep. Passion flower has been used in the treatment of nervous and easily excited children, bronchial asthma, insomnia, nervous gastrointestinal disorders and menopausal problems. Passion flower is sometimes used as a mild hallucinogen.
Have always wondered what it tasted like? Hmm...since mine is passion fruit filling, it is already sweetened but you could still taste the tartiness and the aroma is pretty strong.
However, the baked cake has only subtle passion fruit aroma but the consolation is that the butter cake is tasty and moist and texture of cake is enhanced by the crunchy topping. Leaves a lingering aroma and tartiness after consuming it.

Passion Fruit and its flower

Photo from: www.tradewindsfruit.com




Ingredients: (8" loaf pan)
100g butter (room temperature)
80g castor sugar
1/4 tsp salt
3 eggs (room temperature)
100ml warm skim milk
85g - 100g passion fruit filling
200g cake flour
9g baking powder

Topping:
45g butter
45g sugar
60g cake flour

Method:
1. With an electric mixer, whisk butter with sugar and salt till creamy and smooth.
2. Add in one egg and 1/3 of the milk, beat till well mixed. Repeat till all eggs and milk are used up.
3. Add in the passion fruit filling and whisked till well mixed.
4. Turn the mixer to the lowest speed and whisk in the sieved flour and baking powder. Whisk till mixture is smooth.
5. Pour batter into a well-greased and floured or lined baking loaf pan.
6. To prepare topping, seive flour into a mixing bowl, stir in the sugar and rub in the butter till bread crumb state. Sprinkle topping evenly over the surface of batter.
7. Bake at 200C for 30 -35 minutes or till cooked and golden brown.