Passionfruit Yoghurt Cake (gluten free, of course)

This bright and beautiful gluten free passionfruit yoghurt cake is loaded with fresh passionfruit on the inside and glazed on top, too! It’s baked with a combination of gluten free flours to give you a lovely cakey texture. Perfect with a cup of tea (or a scoop of ice cream!).

Well hello everyone! Though it’s only been a bit over a week, it feels like ages since I’ve managed to post something on the blog. I’d like to say it’s just because it’s been so busy, but honestly, it’s more a combination of 50% busy, and 50% truly tuckered out. Over the uni break (which has just ended, *sigh*), I initially worked on a lot of content for clients and it felt AMAZING. The briefs were really fun and the clients were ones I respect and admire so much. But after all that was done, I really needed to put my feet up a bit before university got going again.

It’s more in my nature to just keep going, going and going, but from past experience I also know where that leaves me. Frazzled and burnt out, and feeling like I’m not really giving 100% to anything. Sometimes what we need to do is pull back and have a big long rest, because then diving back in feels so invigorating and so welcome. Like that first plunge into a pool on a hot day.

So today I’m sharing with you this lush passionfruit yoghurt cake that I actually made and photographed a few weeks ago, and whose photos have been staring at me on the computer for so long!

Homemade Gluten Free Flour Blend

While I love making my grain free “paleo” style cakes for a nutty, dense kind of cake option (like my peanut butter mud cake, mmm), I’m also partial to gluten free cakes that more closely mimic a cake made with regular flour. For something light like a passionfruit yoghurt cake, I wanted the cake to be a bit more “fluffy” than some of my other cakes.

Cue a ridiculously long grocery store and online search for gluten free flour blends. OMG. There are so many options. After tons of research, I came to the conclusion that the best blends tend to have a minimum of three flours, and require a balance between starchy flours and heavier (usually wholegrain or higher-protein) flours. Many pre-made blends are almost all starchy flours like corn starch, tapioca flour, white rice flour and potato starch. But this is what has always been what has bothered me about the pre-made gluten free flour blends you find at the supermarket – they’re SO starchy and I feel like ALL of the goodness is gone. Why can’t we have a little bit of both?

So that’s what I did for this cake; I blended. And I totally cheated in how I made my blended flour (because after all that time researching I was desperate to bake and didn’t want to run around buying six flour types to experiment with). I did the most simple thing I could think of: I blended a starchy pre-made gluten free flour blend with some of the whole grain flours I already had at home. Bingo. I had a lighter flour to make a cake with, but one with a little bit of whole grain oomph.

Passionfruit Yoghurt Cake

Now let’s get back to talking about this passionfruit yoghurt cake a little more. Here are all of the things I love about it:

• It’s gluten free.
• It’s easy to make.
• It’s stuffed with fresh passionfruit and has more passionfruit glazed on top.
• It’s sweetened with honey.
• It’s lovely and soft and moist because it’s baked with fruit and yoghurt.
• It’s really yummy!

Bake it in a small round cake tin and enjoy it slightly warmed; I found it’s much softer that way. If you don’t finish it all at once, store in the fridge or freeze. Warm up in the microwave to get it nice and soft again.

Funnily enough, I absolutely hated passionfruit when I was little… not the flavour, but the texture of the seeds always creeped me out! I’m glad I managed to overcome that aversion because fresh passionfruit is pretty divine, and it’s such a wonderful dessert flavour too. I hope you enjoy my passionfruit yoghurt cake!

Passionfruit Yoghurt Cake (gluten free)

This bright and beautiful gluten free passionfruit yoghurt cake is loaded with fresh passionfruit on the inside and glazed on top, too! It's baked with a combination of gluten free flours to give you a lovely cakey texture. Perfect with a cup of tea (or a scoop of ice cream!).

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Course: Desserts and Sweets

Cuisine: freezer friendly, gluten free, vegetarian

Prep Time: 25 minutes

Cook Time: 35 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour

Ingredients

• 90 grams standard gluten free flour blend (i.e. a high starch store-bought blend)
• 90 grams brown rice and/or buckwheat flour
• 100 grams ground almonds i.e. almond flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 5 passionfruit
• 3 eggs
• 120 mL honey (about 6 tablespoons)
• 60 mL coconut oil measured melted (about 3 tablespoons)
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2/3 cup natural yoghurt unsweetened
• 60 mL milk of choice (about 3 tablespoons)

Optional Passionfruit Glaze

• 2 passionfruit
• 2 tbsp honey

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 180 C and line a small round cake tin (8 inch aka 20 cm diameter) with baking paper on the base and sides.
• Combine all of the flours, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, honey, vanilla and coconut oil. Pour this mixture into the dry mixture, and then add in the yoghurt, milk and the flesh of the 5 passionfruit. Stir to form a smooth batter. 
• Scoop batter into the lined baking tin and bake for approximately 35 minutes, or until the cake feels firm to touch in the centre and the edges are cracking slightly. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin for 15 minutes and then place on a wire rack.
• While the cake is cooling, make the glaze by combining the passionfruit flesh and honey in a small saucepan and cooking together over a gentle heat for a few minutes, until thickened. Spread over the warm cake and allow it to drip down the edges a little and sink in. 

Notes

*The specific store-bought gluten free flour blend I used in this recipe for the cake pictured was Orgran gluten free all purpose plain flour. The ingredient list for this flour reads: Maize Starch, Rice Flour, Tapioca Starch, Rice Bran, Vegetable Gum (Thickener): Guar Gum.

*I also used a mixture of brown rice and buckwheat flour as indicated in the ingredients list.

*I have not yet tried to make this recipe dairy free by using a dairy free yoghurt. Dairy free yoghurt does tend to have a slightly different consistency, but if you find one that's a good match for a regular yoghurt I say give it a try. Make sure to use a non dairy milk too. Please let me know if you try it! 

Have you made this recipe?I love seeing your creations! Take a photo and then tag me @nourish.everyday on Instagram!