Passion Fruit Tunis Cake

Passion Fruit Tunis Cake

Tunis cake is a wonderfully indulgent cake which also goes well with passion fruit. This recipe has been tried and tested to produce a cake which is not overly sweet. The crumb on the cake is nice and light which goes well with the bitterness of the ganache and the tartness of the passion fruit. 

Ingredients:

Madeira Cake

225g softened butter/dairy free margarine

160g golden caster sugar

225g self-raising gluten free flour

70g ground almonds

4 eggs

1 lemon zest

Passion Fruit Curd 

8 passion fruit
1 lemon juice
100g golden caster sugar
100g butter/dairy free margarine
2 eggs
2 egg yolks

Chocolate Ganache 200ml coconut cream
280g dark chocolate, broken into pieces

Preheat the oven to 180C/fan 160C and grease and line the base of a 10 inch loose-bottomed tin. 

In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter/margarine together with the sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Add the lemon zest, flour and ground almonds and mix until combined. 

Pour into the prepared tin and pop into the oven for 45 minutes. Place a piece of greaseproof paper on top of the cake after 30 minutes to prevent the surface over browning.

Leave in the tin whilst you prepare the chocolate ganache. Pour the coconut cream in a saucepan over a medium heat until it is warm. Add the chocolate pieces and stir for a while before leaving for the chocolate to melt. Stir after a couple of minutes until all the chocolate has melted. Pop the saucepan back onto the heat if it is not melting but do not overheat. 

Pour the chocolate mixture on top of the cake in the tin and smooth the top. Leave to one side in a cool place to set for at least 2 hours. Once set carefully remove the side of the tin so that the chocolate ganache sits nicely on top.  

This cake can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for a week. You can take out a piece of cake every day in advance to allow the ganache to come back to room temperature. 

The passion fruit curd can be made in advance as it needs at least 4 hours in the fridge to set. 

Scoop the flesh from seven of the passion fruit into a bowl. Whisk the seeds to loosen the juices. Spoon into a sieve placed over a bowl and press down with a spoon until all the juices have been extracted. Squeeze the lemon through the sieve to collect any seeds.

Heat the butter/margarine in a saucepan over a low heat. Whilst this is melting, whisk the eggs, yolks and sugar together in another bowl and add in the passion fruit and lemon juices. 

When the butter has melted, pour in the egg and juice mixture and whisk over a low heat until the curd thickens to the consistency of double cream. Make sure you keep stirring to avoid any curdling. 

Take the thickened curd off the heat and scoop in to the pulp from the remaining passion fruit. Stir into the curd and pour into a container before popping into the fridge for at least 4 hours. The curd can be enjoyed with other delights as well and keeps in the fridge for over a week. Unless finished before hand of course! 

Enjoy a slice of the cake with a scoop of passion fruit curd on the side.