Anyone who knows me well, knows that my favorite vacation is to go visit my family in London. The city, of course, is magical. The visits with family are so much more.
The British part of my family has been in England for four (or five) generations. They came on the same boat that brought my family to the United States after leaving Russia. As the story goes, there were four brothers on that boat. The three oldest brothers tricked the youngest brother into getting off the boat in England, thinking he would realize it wasn’t America before the boat left the harbor.
Well, that brother did not make it back to the boat in time and remained in England. The story may be a sad one, but the families have stayed in touch over the years and had many visits between the US and England.
This week was supposed to be one of those magical trips to England to watch my cousin Chloe marry her other half. After postponing their wedding because of the pandemic, they are finally able to gather with friends and family this weekend to celebrate their love.
While I will not be able to be there celebrating with them, something I have been looking forward to for a long time (since Chloe told me about Mike on a family trip to San Francisco in 2015), I have created this cake as an homage to their wedding, and to our favorite British drink, the Porn Star Martini!
If I can’t be there to celebrate, I might as well eat cake at home!
Passionfruit Curd
6 Passionfruits
5 Egg yolks
¼ Cup granulated sugar
2 Teaspoons cornstarch
1 Teaspoon lemon juice
To make the curd, whisk the egg yolks, cornstarch, and lemon juice together in a bowl. Set aside.
Cut open each passionfruit and scrape the pulp and seeds into a pot. Add in the sugar. Stir together and place on the stove over medium-low heat. Stir continuously until heate through, about 5 minutes.
Slowly (and I mean slowly) drizzle in the passionfruit to the eggs while continuously whisking. This step needs to be done slowly. If you do it too quickly, you will scramble the eggs and have to start over!
Once combined, Pour through a strainer into the same pot that you heated the passionfruit in. This will make sure that no seeds get into your curd.
Heat the mixture over medium-low heat and whisk constantly. The mixture will start to thicken after about 5-8 minutes. Once it thickens, place into a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Make sure that the plastic wrap is pressed directly against the curd or it will form a film.
Refrigerate for at least 3 hours.
Coconut Cake
5 Egg whites
¾ Cup buttermilk
¾ Cup unsalted butter, softened
1 ½ Cup granulated sugar
1 tsp Vanilla extract
2 ¼ cup all purpose flour
2 Teaspoons cornstarch
1 Teaspoon baking powder
1 cup shredded, sweetened coconut
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit .
In a mixing bowl, beat butter, sugar, vanilla extract.
Add in flour, cornstarch, and baking powder. Mix until combined. The mixture will look very crumbly here, that is how it is supposed to look!
Beat in egg whites and buttermilk until fully blended.
Spray three 6-inch cake tins with spray oil. Dust flour over the oil and pour batter into pans.
Bake for 25-30 minutes.
Remove and cool completely on wire rack before frosting.
Cream Cheese Frosting
½ cup unsalted butter, softened
1 packages (8 oz) cream cheese, softened to room temperature
5 cups powdered sugar
In a mixer, with a whisk attachment beat the butter and cream cheese for 4-5 minutes, until light and fluffy.
Slowly add in the powdered sugar about 1 cup at a time.
Assemble the cake by placing a layer of cake on a cake stand, spread frosting on top and then the passionfruit curd on top of the frosting. Place the next layer of cake on top and repeat.
Once the cake is assembled, frost the outside and if desired, place toasted coconut around the outside.
