Yogurt Passionfruit Bundt Cake with Passionfruit icing and a passionfruit soaking syrup - a triple dose of passionfruit in this sunshiny delicious bundt cake. 

I took January off from blogging and well now it looks like part of February as well.  Four weeks turned into six and I am ok with it. It was a much needed break and I think I might take January off every year. Breaks are good. 

I treated myself for Christmas with Nordic Ware's 75th anniversary braided bundt pan. I love the braided look, it bakes up really nicely and cakes slide out super easy after baking. I knew I needed to break it in with a passionfruit bundt cake.

Passionfruit courtesy of the amazing Rincon Tropics. Please check them out when you have a chance and order a box of the most amazing Californian grown produce. The farm overlooks a surf spot I grew up at just south of my home town of Santa Barbara. 

Just look at how awesome the braided pattern is. This bundt pan is perfect for any kind of bundt recipe or flavor you like. It is a hefty 12 cup capacity - we like big bundts! ha ha ok I will stop now. 

I have many bundt pans from Nordic Ware collected over the years and while I love them all, some don't hold as much batter and some are so intricate it doesn't matter how much butter or flour or  baking spray you use, the cakes still stick. But this pan is perfect.

I made this cake 5 times before finally photographing it and it didn't stick once. Its been a tasty 6 weeks with lots of passionfruit cake. 

How to keep bundt cakes from sticking:

My trick for getting bundt cakes to release perfectly every time is using a diy cake release. I first saw a contestant on the Great Canadian Bake Off using it and headed straight to google to find out the recipe. I found tons of the exact same recipe.  

It is a very easy recipe, you can keep in a jar at room temperature, and brush it on the pan liberally with a pastry brush. No need for extra flour after you have brushed it on. 

How to make DIY cake release:

You will need equal parts:

Flour

Shortening

Oil

I will use a cup of all purpose flour, add in a cup of softened shortening ( I like using Nutiva) and a cup neutral oil such as avocado or sunflower. Use any oil you like but make sure its a neutral oil. Olive oil wouldn't work here. 

Whisk it in a large bowl until smooth, transfer to a jar, such as a mason jar, and keep a lid on it. This will last a long time. You can use any amount of each ingredient as you like as long as they are all equal amounts. 

Now let's get back to this gorgeous passionfruit bundt cake. 

This cake gets a triple dose of passionfruit in the cake, the soaking syrup and the glaze. Once the cake is baked, it gets cooled for 5 minutes, then you poke holes all over with a skewer and spoon the soaking syrup over the top ( which will be the bottom once inverted).

After the passionfruit soaking syrup is added, the cake cools completely in the bundt pan. Once completely cooled you can either invert it onto a cake plate OR wrap in plastic wrap and keep out on the counter overnight ( as long as your kitchen isn't TOO hot - I wouldn't suggest over 75 Deg f) and then invert the cake the next day to finish it. 

Look how perfect the cake is once it is released from the pan. IF you choose to let it sit out overnight, the cake might stick to the pan. Instead of shaking the cake out, heat your oven again to same baking temperature, in this case 325 Deg F (177 C) and bake for 5 minutes.

 Let it cool enough to handle ( I still use oven mitts or a towel) and then invert onto a plate. Cool again completely before icing. 

The icing for this passionfruit bundt cake is just two ingredients - confectioners or icing sugar and fresh passionfruit. Whisked together then poured over the cake in two layers to create a nice, sweet-tart icing. The cake is great as is, but the icing makes it even better. 

What if I can't find fresh passionfruit?

My first suggestions for substitutions are bottled passionfruit juice and or frozen passionfruit pulp.  You want to make sure they are 100% juice, nothing else added. 

You could also substitute any other citrus juice for the passionfruit, although it wouldn't be a passionfruit cake anymore but still good. 

Metric vs Imperial measures when making baked goods:

This passionfruit bundt cake ingredients are weighed in grams and only smaller amounts like vanilla are measured with teaspoons. I love the metric system.

Weighing is the most accurate you can get, and recipes can be ruined by adding too much or too little of an ingredient. Most often people add too much flour with the scoop and level method.  

One issue with this is measuring cups aren't all the same size. Even within the same brand. I use 130 grams for one cup of flour.

This may or may not fill a cup sized measuring cup.  I test my recipes this way and I will mention cups in the recipe card but know that what I used is grams. 

Water is an even measure of one gram equals one milliliter so any liquid measures here, such as the passionfruit juice is weighed in grams. 

What ingredients are in passionfruit bundt cake?

Besides the usual flour, sugar, eggs etc. I use yogurt to add flavor and moisture. I love using thick, Greek style yogurt in baked goods. You an also use full fat sour cream in a pinch. 

This cake uses fresh passionfruit. Use it if you have available to you. If you don't find fresh you can also use frozen puree, just thaw completely before using. 

To remove the seeds from the passionfruit pulp: cut them in half, scoop into a blender. Blend on LOW for just. few seconds to separate the seeds. Any higher or longer will  break up the seeds too much. Strain the juice into a measuring cup or jar and discard the seeds. 

The cake uses juice as well as the soaking syrup and the icing uses fresh passionfruit juice with the pulp and seeds. I like the way the seeds look and eating them is just fine. You can use just juice for the icing if you like. 

A few more notes about this yogurt passionfruit bundt cake before the recipe:

• Use a large bundt pan (12 cups) as this cake will be a little over the top when baking. It will shrink down a little when it is done and that is ok. 
• Measure with a food scale. Grams are the most accurate. 
• Use fresh passionfruit if you can. About a dozen large will equal around 240 grams or a cup of juice. The cake uses 160 grams (about ⅔ cup) and the syrup uses 60 g ( about ¼ cup). Two are used for the icing. 
• If you can't find fresh passionfruit you can find frozen puree at any well stocked international or Mexican grocery store. Some more mainstream grocer stored will carry it as well. Make sure it is 100% passionfruit and not a blend. Thaw to room temperature before using. 
• The soaking syrup adds more passionfruit flavor and moisture to the cake. You can omit if you want but I suggest adding it. The recipe makes more than needed - the leftovers can be added to cocktails, soda water, used as pancake or waffle syrup etc. 
• This cake keeps well at room temperature stored in an airtight container for up to a few days. You can also freeze it if you want.