I’m excited to be partnering with Miele today to bring you this delicious chocolate and passionfruit layer cake.
You definitely have to try this one. It's relatively simple to make but with show-stopping results - perfect for any special occasion. The rich chocolate paired with the fresh passionfruit is unexpectedly delicious.
Today I'm using my Miele combi steam oven and the Cakes Plus function which gives the perfect fluffy, yet moist result. If you don’t have a steam oven you can also use a conventional oven as I have included methods for both options below.
Feel free to 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.
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.
Any leftover cake is best stored covered in the fridge.
Hope you enjoy this delicious cake. As always, please let me know if you make it @gatherandfeast, and feel free to ask any questions.
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Ingredients
45 minutes preparation time + 30 minutes cooking time (plus cooling and setting time) 
12 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
- 125g good quality milk chocolate, very finely chopped
- 125g good quality dark chocolate, very finely chopped
- 250ml (1 cup) thickened (heavy) cream
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
- Pinch fine sea salt
Passionfruit & vanilla cream cheese filling
- 500g cream cheese
- 1 tbsp vanilla bean paste
- 110g (2/3 cup) icing sugar
- Pulp of 1 fresh passionfruit
For assembling
- Pulp of 2 fresh passionfruit
- 1 tbsp dark dutch processed cacao, for dusting
Method
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.
