Passionfruit, lime and pistachio layer cake

Our friend Jon’s flatmate Shivaji is moving home to India this week and cooked us a fantastic Indian meal to say goodbye.  I contributed this cake to the feast – made with pistachios and passionfruit pulp in the cake batter, then iced with a mascarpone mixed with passionfruit curd, an amazing find from a recent farmer’s market.  You can buy the curd online or make your own from scratch – Nigella Lawson has a nice recipe on her website.  

Ingredients

4 oz unsalted, shelled pistachios

10 oz butter

10 oz caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla essence

5 eggs

8 oz self-raising flour

1 ½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

2 passionfruit

1 lime, zest and juice

For the icing

8 oz mascarpone

6 tbsp passionfruit curd

To decorate

2 oz chopped pistachios

White chocolate stars

Edible gold dust

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C and grease and line three 7 inch round cake tins.  
2. Start by toasting the pistachios in a dry frying pan for a minute or two.  Leave to cool before grinding in a food processor.
3. In a large mixing bowl cream the butter, sugar and vanilla essence together until pale and fluffy.
4. Measure out the flour and set aside.
5. Add the eggs to the butter and sugar mixture one at a time, followed by a large spoonful of flour between each egg.  Beat well after each addition.
6. Sift in the remaining flour, baking powder, salt and ground pistachios and beat until well combined.
7. Cut the passionfruit in half and scoop the flesh, juice and seeds into the cake batter.
8. Finely grate the zest of the lime and squeeze its juice into the cake batter, then fold together with a large metal spoon.
9. Pour the batter into the prepared cake tins and bake for about 25 mins until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in the tins for 5 mins before removing from the tin and leaving to cool completely on a wire rack.
10. To make the icing, place the mascarpone and passionfruit curd in a large mixing bowl and beat with a wooden spoon. Cover and refrigerate until needed.
11. When the cakes are completely cool, sandwich each layer with a third of the icing.  Decorate the top with chopped pistachios, white chocolate stars and edible gold dust.