Easy Vegan Passionfruit Coconut Cake which only takes 10 minutes to prepare. The cake is fluffy, tastes like a tropical holiday and is super versatile!
Video: How to make vegan passionfruit cake
Ingredients you'll need
This vegan passion fruit cake uses only common ingredients including:
Plain or all-purpose flour. Whole wheat or spelt flour will also work but will make your cake less fluffy.
Cane sugar. Coconut sugar can be used but will make the cake slightly darker.
Dessicated coconut for flavour and texture! A high amount of passionfruit in cake makes it a little chewy and dense but adding coconut helps keep the cake fluffy and moist.
Light-tasting vegetable oil such as sunflower, rapeseed and some types of olive oil. I wouldn't recommend using coconut oil as it solidifies at room temperature and can make the cake feel dry.
Passionfruit pulp and seeds. If you don't like eating the seeds of passionfruit, you can remove them using a strainer. However, I kept in the seeds for texture and I think they're a key characteristic of anything flavoured with passionfruit!
Lemon juice to enhance the tartness of the passionfruit and the crumb of the cake.
Baking powder to help the vegan passionfruit cake rise. I added a little more than usual to counteract the high amount of passionfruit (a high amount of fruit in cakes makes the crumb more dense, just like banana bread).
A surprising egg replacer!
Did you know that passionfruit pulp can be used as an egg substitute in vegan baking?! The viscous texture of passionfruit is similar to eggs and helps ingredients 'stick together' in baking.
Understandably, this is not common vegan baking 101 fact because passionfruit has a strong taste and is full of seeds!
I discovered this when trialing recipes for my first cookbook, which includes a recipe for a vegan passionfruit banana cake. The more passionfruit in a cake, the chewier it is! That means this vegan passionfruit cake doesn't need an egg replacer.
How to make vegan passionfruit cake
This is a really easy cake to make! Simply add all dry ingredients to a large mixing bowl and mix until there are no lumps apart from the coconut.
Add all the wet ingredients including the passionfruit pulp and mix until combined.
I recommend using a 20 cm (8 inch) loaf tin to bake the passion fruit cake. As there's a lot of fruit in it, it takes a little longer to bake than other cakes. So we need a long tin so it doesn't take toooo long to bake.
If you don't have a cake tin of that size, I'd recommend using a larger tin.
Decorating and serving the cake
This vegan passionfruit coconut cake is perfect with a easy simple icing. It makes the cake very pretty and presentable!
I made the icing using powdered sugar, passionfruit pulp and a little vegan butter (or coconut oil). The ratios in the recipe make a thick frosting so it won't run/melt everywhere. However, you can add more pulp (or liquid like dairy free milk) for a runnier frosting.
Alternatively, you can also top the cake with:
- Coconut or dairy free yoghurt and passionfruit puree (pictured below is the passionfruit banana cake from my cookbook.)
- Vegan buttercream such as the one in my vegan pina colada cake recipe. I'd recommend using only half of the buttercream recipe
- Vegan cream cheese frosting such as in my carrot cake cupcake recipe.
Or skip the icing or frosting and serve the slices warm with dairy free ice cream or vegan custard!
Vegan Passionfruit Cake
Ingredients
Dry cake ingredients
- 2 cups (250g) plain or all-purpose flour*
- ½ cup (100g) cane sugar, or coconut sugar
- 1 cup (80g) dessicated coconut
- 3 tsp baking powder
Wet cake ingredients
- ¾ cup (190g) passionfruit pulp, (~6 medium size passionfruit)**
- ⅔ cup (165g) dairy free milk, such as almond, soy or coconut
- ⅓ cup (85g) light-tasting vegetable oil, such as sunflower or rapeseed
- 2 tbsp (30g) lemon juice, or apple cider vinegar
Passionfruit icing
- 1 ½ cups (150g) powdered sugar
- 2-3 tbsp passionfruit pulp, (~1 passionfruit)
- 1 tbsp vegan butter or margarine, optional for a firmer frosting
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Line a 20 cm (8 inch) or larger loaf tin with baking paper. The larger your tin, the shorter amount of time it'll take to bake the passionfruit cake.
To make the cake:
- Add all dry ingredients to a large mixing bowl. Mix until combined and there are no lumps.
- Add all wet ingredients including the passionfruit pulp to the bowl and mix until just combined. The cake batter will be thick.
- Pour the cake batter into the lined baking tin.
- Bake the cake for around 50 minutes or until a skewer can be inserted into the cake and it comes out clean.
To make the icing:
- Add all ingredients to a bowl and mix until combined. Add more powdered sugar for a firmer frosting or more passionfruit pulp for a runnier frosting
- When the cake has fully cooled, spread the icing on top of the cake allowing it to drip down the sides.
- The cake can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for 1 day or in the fridge for 3 days.
Video
Notes
This recipe and post was first published in 2019 and updated in 2021. This recipe is also on the Harris Farm Market website.
Please leave a comment below if you made this recipe, have any questions or thoughts! Your comment will help other readers and Rainbow Nourishments.
Made this delightful cake and adored the flavour of passionfruit and coconut. However what really made it stand out for me was the crumb/texture. It was perfection. Actually this is the fourth cake I've made from your website and each has been a success!
Aw, that's the nicest comment, thank you so much Verna! And I'm so glad you've enjoyed my other cake recipes too! x
You might look at this cake and think it looks like a pretty, flavorful cake. But until you try this recipe, you won't fully understand how INCREDIBLY DELICIOUS THIS IS! It's such a delicious cake, you'll need willpower not to eat the whole cake at once, and I'm not exaggerating. Thanks for the recipe and greetings from Argentina! ๐
Oh that's the nicest comment ever! Thank you soo much for the glowing review, it really made my morning/day! xx
Can you use regular dairy milk if you don't mind if it's not vegan?
Yes you can!
Super easy and soooooo good! If you donโt bake it yourself you are def missing out! Thank you for this amazing recipe ๐
Aw, that's so nice to hear! Thank you so much for your feedback xx
This is the third vegan cake I've made from Rainbow Nourishments, and with thanks to you Anthea, another 5 star result! It was quick and easy to make and I love the flavour of the passionfruit. The addition of coconut gave it an interesting texture. My vegan granddaughter will be delighted - thank you again!
Thanks so so much Delwyn! I'm stoked that you enjoyed this recipe and am very appreciative of your ongoing support! I hope you're keeping well xx
Hi there! I made this and it came out delicious. Your icing is the best that I've ever made.However, the loaf shrank in height as it cooled down. What did I do wrong? Thank you
Oh that's lovely! Hmm, there are many possible reasons! Sometimes cakes can shrink a little if the oven wasn't hot enough (ovens aren't always the temperature they say), if the oven door was opened a little too early, if there are slight mismeasurements with the ingredients or due to old baking powder! I hope that helps x
This is a lovely simple cake and the flavours are great and the ingredient list is quite short which is also great. However, I found the passion fruit seeds in the cake really off putting...they were so crunchy and just felt wrong. I couldn't enjoy the cake as a result,but I'm sure its just a personal thing and it might not bother some one else. It's a shame as I really couldn't fault the cake otherwise. I wish I had used a puree or just sieved out the seeds...I'll know for next time. I'm just leaving this comment so that others will know to sieve the seeds before making the cake. Your recipes are fab and I look forward to making many more of them. Thank you
Glad that you enjoyed the flavour of the cake! I do think that the seeds is a personal preference as I know some people who love the seeds but others who don't. That's why I put the sieving option in the comments and post! But thank you for leaving your comment so others can consider it before they bake this :).
Made this today and I can't stop eating it. My neighbor gave me a bag of passion fruit and I was looking for a recipe that would come close to my Mom's passion fruit cake that I loved as a kid. This one definitely hit the spot. Even my husband and our 4 year old couldn't stop raving about it. Although the 4 year old wanted chocolate icing and sprinkles on hers. ๐
Hello, recipe looks amazing, I was wondering if I can use just coconut floor instead and coconut oil instead of sunflower?)
Hey! I wouldn't recommend coconut flour as it's 3 times more absorbent than regular flour. Coconut oil will work but just warm up your cake before your eat it as it may feel dry (coconut oil often solidifies at room temperature and can firm up some baked goods).
Hi Philippa, since you mentioned the cake sunk in the middle, I assume you didn't use a bundt pan? The hole in the middle of the bundt cuts the baking time *a lot*. Sinking can also be due to the oven being too hot but with yours, I'd say the cake pan was the issue.
Hi, I only have about 6 small passion fruits on hand. I don't think it's enough for both the cake and the custard. Does the passion fruit flavor come through on the cake? I was thinking of subbing it for apple sauce and saving the passion fruit for the custard.
Hi Jenna, yes the passionfruit flavour comes through the cake as well. However, if you're short on passionfruit, apple sauce for the actual cake will suffice!
I used an average 10 cup bundt tin but a smaller one may work. I'd recommend a 20 cm (8 inch) or larger cake tin if you don't have a bundt tin. However, I cannot vouch for the results as the hole in the bundt helps with the baking time and consistency of the cake.
I made this recipe in a muffin tin. Didn't make the curd but the muffins were delicious on their own!
I'm so glad to hear Lynn! I'll have to try it in a muffin tin next time too :). Thank you!
Just wondering if another type of sugar can be used and what you'd suggest would be best - brown, white, raw or caster?
coconut sugar is high fodmap so i can't have it ๐ but this looks so yummy and i'd love to make it for my mum's birthday on wednesday
Yes! You can use white, raw or caster ๐
You won't need to make adjustments to the recipe except you'll only need to bake it for 15 minutes or so!
Recipe looks amazing and really want to try.
Sorry if this is a dumb question, but what do you mean by puree only for the passion fruit? Do you just mean pureed passion fruit? Like scoop out the inside and puree it?
Thanks Jenny! There's no dumb questions - I meant 'pulp' of the passionfruit with the seeds in their glory! I'll update the recipe to make it more clear ๐
Thank you! So just passion fruit pulp for the cake batter and in the custard then? Can't wait to make it. Was looking for something to bake using my ripe passion fruits.
Yes the pulp is for the cake batter and custard! This would be perfect for your ripe passionfruit. Let me know how you go ๐
Hi loved this recipe. Wondering if I want to make it gluten free would it work as well using gf flour, maybe tapioca?
So glad you loved the recipe! I haven't this recipe with gf flour but it'd work with a combination of almond meal/flour and fine white rice flour. I don't think tapioca would work because it makes baked goods a bit too 'chewy' and the passion fruit here already makes the bundt 'chewier' than normal. Hope that helps!
Hoping to make it for my son's bday. Darn quarantine makes it his second one without friends. He loves passion fruit. I only have passion fruit frozen puree, can I still make both the cake and curd?
Oh I hope your son gets to have friends for his birthday next time! Yes, frozen passion fruit will work ๐