The details

Yes, this is another passion fruit recipe. I can’t stop, won’t stop okay!!! This one was actually inspired by a custom order for pound cake, but make it passion fruit. Here’s my answer. This Passion Fruit Vanilla Bean Pound cake is dense with the perfect amount of passion fruit flavor. First you make a solid vanilla bean pound cake with BOTH vanilla extract and paste for double the vanilla flavor. Then you douse it in a simple passion fruit syrup that seeps in juuuust a little to flavor the cake without it getting too soggy. Then it’s cut and serve. Yum, I can not get enough of this stuff!

What to know before making this pound cake

This pound cake is super easy! Which is the beauty of pound cake. But just a few recipe deep-dive notes:

Whip that butter alone to incorporate air before adding any sugar. This gives the pound cake some of its height and rise and keeps it from being a baked block of butter.
Add sugar sloooowwly to make the butter is not weighed down by the sugar. See above!
Keep all dairy + eggs room temp (meaning take it out of the fridge about an hour before you make this recipe).
DO NOT I REPEAT DO NOT open that oven before at least 1 hour of cook time has elapsed!!! There’s no way the cake is even close to done by then, and it could cause the middle of the cake to collapse forming a hollow spot. SO sad.

Gear + Ingredients

You can find passion fruit puree frozen in some grocery stores (I get it at Whole Foods or Wegman’s in the frozen fruit section) or if you want to be an over-achiever you can try to find them fresh at your local grocery store and remove the seeds and puree. I talk more about sourcing + selecting passion fruit here.

Here are the two pans I like to use most for pound cake:

Loaf pan (1x of this recipe, serves about 10 thick slices)
Classic bundt pan (2x this recipe, serves about 20 slices)

Recipes like this

If you like pound cake, you’ll love my Lemon Blackberry Pound Cake and Matcha-Almond Pound Cake! Both perfect for Spring.

I also use (and just adore) passion fruit in my Passion Fruit Curd and Passion Fruit Vanilla Bean Meringue Clouds. Love!

Bake to this music

Passion Fruit Vanilla Bean Pound Cake

Print Recipe

Taste the tropics with this dense, sweet vanilla pound cake and delicious passion fruit syrup soak. Passion Fruit Vanilla Bean Pound Cake will delight in the spring and summer months.

Yield: 10 servings 1x

Ingredients

Units Scale

For the vanilla bean pound cake:

1 cup unsalted butter, room temp
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs, room temp
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp kosher salt
4 oz sour cream, room temp
1/3 cup whole milk, room temp

For the passion fruit syrup:

1/2 cup passionfruit puree
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F. Prepare a loaf pan (or bundt if doubling the recipe) with grease and/or parchment. Set aside.
Make your pound cake batter. With a stand mixer, cream butter alone on medium-high until whipped and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Slowly stream in sugar with the mixer going on medium high and continue to beat once added 3 minutes until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl in between additions. Beat again on medium-high 3-5 minutes until the mixture is shiny, smooth, and fully emulsified. Add vanilla and beat to combine.
In a separate mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Whisk to combine.
Reduce the mixer speed to low and alternate adding remaining wet and dry ingredients, mixing until just combined and no more. The order will be 1/3 flour mixture, sour cream, 1/3 flour mixture, milk, 1/3 flour mixture. This step can be done by folding as well.
Spoon your batter into the prepared pan. Use a spatula to flatten the top of the batter. Bake at 325 for 1 hour, 30 minutes, until the top is golden brown and has a crack. Allow the cake to come to room temperature on a wire cooling rack.
While the cake is cooling, make your passionfruit syrup. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together passionfruit puree and powdered sugar vigorously until the mixture is smooth and syrupy.
Once the cake is cooled, pour the syrup all over the top of the cake, allowing it to seep in and penetrate. Enjoy!

Notes

This recipe is written for a loaf-size pound cake. To make in a bundt pan, double the recipe for the batter and syrup.
You can leave off the passionfruit if you prefer and serve vanilla bean pound cake with fresh seasonal berries instead.

Author: Caroline Crockett
Category: desserts, cake