My good friend Patricia was the one who first told me about the event being hosted by Barbara from Winos and Foodies - 'A Taste of Yellow' in aid of the Armstrong foundation. When I heard what it was really about I decided to take part as I have lost a few people close to my heart who suffered of this terrible disease.
I lost a very, very dear friend to breast cancer a few years back. We were house mates and I was with her from the beginning. She was a fighter and survived for 5 years. Andrea would have loved this cake. She loved trying new recipes. Barbara is a fighter and a surviver and this cake is also for her.I chose to bake a Brazilian version of passion fruit cake. We love passion fruit cake in Brazil and there are different versions of it. This one recipe I got from a wonderful Brazilian story teller called Sonia Novaes. The cake is lovely, slightly tangy. I like having a lovely cup of coffee with it.
Here's the recipe:
Ingredients:
2 cups sugar (360g)
2 cups plain flour (250g)
1 cup of passion fruit juice, no seeds
60g butter
1 tablespoon baking powder
5 eggs separated
Preheat the oven to 180oC – 160oC if you have a fan assisted oven. Grease and flour a bundt pan or a 31 cm x 22 cm baking tin (approximate measurement).
Beat the sugar, butter and egg yolks until the mixture is creamy and paler – about five minutes. Then intercalate the addition of flour and passion fruit juice, always mixing it with a wooden spoon. Once the two ingredients are fully incorporated add the baking powder followed by the egg whites. When you add the egg whites put 1/3 of it first, mix gently to incorporate and only then add the rest. Pour the mixture into the reserved baking tin and put it in the oven. Bake it for approximately 30 min.
When the cake is ready let it cool for 5 minutes in the tin before transferring it to a rack. Proceed to prepare the passion fruit syrup:
Pour 1 cup of passion fruit juice – seeds and all, in a pan followed by 1 cup of sugar and a few drops of lemon juice. Stir it until the sugar is dissolved. When it starts to boil remove it from the fire and drizzle the cake with it.
