White Chocolate, Coconut and Passion Fruit Cake

It's been a bit grey and dull around here recently, so I thought I'd try this one to brighten things up a bit. This cake has a tangy passion fruit fragrance and I really like how the white chocolate gives the sponge a bit more character. Although the cake itself is very quick to make, a little time is required to sort out straining the fruit and chopping/grating the chocolate, so give yourself half an hour or so prepare it.

Prep Time: 30 Mins

Baking Time: 50-55 Mins

6 Passion Fruit

100g White Chocolate

150g Unsalted Butter (Softened)

175g Caster Sugar

4 Medium Eggs

1/2tsp of Baking Powder

150g Self Raising Flour

100g Dessicated Coconut

1tbsp Icing Sugar

Right, you can start by cutting the passion fruit in half then scraping the insides into a sieve. Press with a large spoon through the sieve into a dish, so you can extract all the juice without the seeds. Grate the chocolate into a separate bowl (Or you can finely chop with a sharp knife) and set both aside whilst you prepare the batter. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4 and grease/line the base of a 20cm loose bottomed tin. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar, then beat in the eggs one at a time. Sift in the baking powder with the flour and mix until thoroughly combined. Fold through the coconut, followed by the passion fruit juice and white chocolate. Spoon into the tin and bake in the centre of the oven for 50-55 minutes, until the top is a deep golden and a metal skewer can be cleanly removed from the middle of the cake.

When it's done remove from the oven and set aside for 30 minutes. When the tin can be easily handled, remove the cake and leave to cool completely on a wire rack. Once the cake is cold dust with the icing sugar (I use a tea strainer for this). Finish by eating it all up!