Passion Fruit Coconut Bundt Cake

It’s no secret that I’m a fan of tropical fruit flavors. They’re both sweet and refreshing, so they’re always welcome at my dessert table – particularly in the spring and summer, when the provide something of a “dessert vacation” on a hot day! This Passion Fruit Coconut Bundt Cake has two of my favorite flavors in it, and it is just bursting with tropical tastiness.

The cake is a dense, moist cake that is rich with sweetened shredded coconut and it uses lots of passion fruit juice as the primary liquid in the cake, infusing each bite with its bright, sweet-tart flavor. While passion fruit is technically a berry, it has a lot in common with citrus because of its high acitidy. In this recipe, it both flavors the cake and helps to tenderize it. The batter comes together easily and is made with both butter and oil to ensure that the cake is nice and moist.

Passion fruits can be found in the tropical food section of most well-stocked grocery stores, and it isn’t that difficult to juice them yourself at home (although there are quite a few seeds that you will need to remove). If you don’t have the fresh fruit, you can also buy frozen purees that are 100% juice (or very, very close to 100%) and use those. You won’t get as good results with a juice that has a bunch of sweetener added to it, so make sure to check the label! Passion fruits are a little bit more expensive than some other fruits, but their unique floral flavor is amazing and well-worth it!

I actually skipped the frosting for this cake and served it with a side of coconut whipped cream, just to make it even more tropical. If you prefer, you can make a simple glaze of passion fruit juice (or coconut milk) and confectioners’ sugar, then drizzle it over the top. The cake will keep well for several days after baking when stored in an airtight container.

Passion Fruit Coconut Bundt Cake
3 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 3/4 cups sugar
2/3 cup butter, room temperature
4 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup passion fruit juice
1 1/2 cups shredded, sweetened coconut

Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease and flour a 10-inch bundt pan.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until very light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, followed by vanilla extract and vegetable oil. Mix in one third of the dry ingredients, followed by half of the passion fruit juice. Mix in an additional third of the dry ingredients, followed by remaining passion fruit juice. Mix in remaining flour and shredded coconut, mixing until the batter is uniform an no streaks of dry ingredients remain visible. Pour into prepared pan.
Bake for 55-60 minutes, or until cake is set and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with only a few moist crumbs attached. Cool cake in pan for about 20 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Dust with confectioners’ sugar, if desired, when cooled.

Serves 12-16.

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