Passion fruit, almond and poppy seed cake

Besides the music I listen to, there’s something else on repeat mode around here - yes, another recipe with almonds. :)

It would take 1 ½ hours for the coffee cake to double in volume and there was nothing good on TV - that happens quite often. I like things most people consider weird and they are not aired very frequently.

“I’ll bake cookies. No, I’ll need the oven soon - I’ll bake a cake”

The almonds on the counter worked as a sort of inspiration. And I must admit that combining passion fruit, almonds and poppy seeds in a cake made me really curious.

I hope you get curious, too, because this is a cake worth trying.

Passion fruit, almond and poppy seed cake

Cake:
4 ½ tablespoons poppy seeds
¼ cup (60ml) milk
180g unsalted butter, room temperature
180g caster sugar
3 eggs
240g all purpose flour
½ cup sliced almonds
½ cup (120ml) passion fruit juice - mix ¼ cup (60ml) concentrated juice + ¼ cup water
1 tablespoon baking powder

Syrup:
45g caster sugar
1/3 cup (80ml) concentrated passion fruit juice
2 ½ tablespoons water

Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF; grease and flour a 22cm (9in) ring pan - the one I used was a teeny tiny larger than 20cm (8in).

In a small bowl, place the poppy seeds and milk and set aside for 20 minutes.

Using an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Reduce the speed to low and add the flour, almonds, passion fruit juice and the milk poppy seed mixture. Turn off the mixer and, using a wooden spoon, mix in the baking powder.

Transfer the dough to the prepared pan and bake for 35 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean. Remove from the oven, set aside for 5 minutes and carefully invert the cake onto a plate.

Make the syrup: place all the ingredients in a small bowl and mix well to dissolve the sugar. Drizzle the syrup over the cake while still hot.
Serve warm or at room temperature.

Slightly adapted from a Brazilian cookbook.

Serves 12