Chocolate & Passionfruit Layer Cake

Ingredients

45 minutes preparation time + 30 minutes cooking time (plus cooling and setting time)

Chocolate cake

250ml (1 cup) buttermilk
185ml (3/4 cup) mild extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
2 eggs
220g (1 cup firmly packed) brown sugar
110g (1/2 cup) caster sugar or granulated sugar
185g (1 1/4 cup) plain all-purpose flour
75g (3/4 cup) unsweetened dark dutch processed cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bi-carb soda
1 tsp fine sea salt
185ml (3/4 cup) hot coffee (the hot coffee helps the cocoa 'bloom' and boosts the chocolate flavour)

Chocolate ganache

Passionfruit & vanilla cream cheese filling

For assembling

Chocolate ganache

Place the very finely chopped chocolate into a medium-sized bowl.
In a small saucepan, heat up the cream and vanilla until it just comes to a simmer.
Pour the hot cream over the finely chopped chocolate and allow it to sit untouched for 10 minutes, ensuring all of the chocolate is covered by the warm cream.
After 10 minutes, whisk the cream and chocolate together until smooth and silky.
Set aside in the fridge to set.

Chocolate cake

USING MIELE COMBI STEAM OVEN

Preheat on Cakes Plus 160°C and place rack on shelf position 1 (or 2 for larger oven).
Grease and line 2 x 20cm round cake tins with baking paper and set aside.
In a large mixing bowl whisk together the buttermilk, olive oil, vanilla, eggs, brown sugar, and castor sugar.
Next, add the flour, cocoa, baking powder, bi-carb soda, salt, and hot coffee.
Whisk until smooth.
Divide the batter into the 2 prepared cake tins.
Place the cakes side by side in the oven on shelf position 1.
Bake at 160°C for 30 minutes.
Once cooked, remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.

USING CONVENTIONAL OVEN

Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F.
Grease and line 2 x 20cm round cake tins with baking paper and set aside.
In a large mixing bowl whisk together the buttermilk, olive oil, vanilla, eggs, brown sugar, and castor sugar.
Next, add the flour, cocoa, baking powder, bi-carb soda, salt, and hot coffee.
Whisk until smooth.
Divide the batter into the 2 prepared cake tins.
Place the cakes side by side in the oven.
Bake at 180°C/350°F for 25 minutes.
Once cooked, remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.

Passionfruit & vanilla cream cheese filling

In a stand mixer or using hand beaters, beat the cream cheese and vanilla until smooth.
Add the icing sugar and passionfruit and beat until smooth.
Set aside in the fridge until you're ready to assemble the cake.

To assemble

Ensure the cakes are completely cold before assembling.
Place one layer of the cake onto a serving plate.
Now dollop the passionfruit filling evenly over the first layer, then very gently spread it out with the back of a spoon.
Evenly spoon the fresh passionfruit pulp over the cream cheese filling.
Place the second cake layer on top and gently press down to secure.
Dollop the ganache over the top layer of cake and gently spread it out with the back of a spoon, creating swooshes in the ganache.
Finally, dust the cake evenly with dark cacao.
Place into the fridge to set for a couple of hours before serving.

HINTS & TIPS

If you can't access buttermilk you can use 250ml (1 cup) full cream milk mixed with 1 tbsp lemon juice, set aside for 10 minutes to curdle.
If you’re waiting on your cakes to cool you can speed up the cooling process by popping the cakes into the fridge or freezer.
You can assemble the cake up to a day in advance and store it in the fridge until ready to use. Simply dust with a little extra cocoa before serving.
Any leftover cake is best stored covered in the fridge.