Lilikoi (Passionfruit) Quick Bread Recipe

I first enjoyed lilikoi also known as passionfruit when my family and I stayed on the tiny island of Rarotonga for a summer. There was a passionfruit vine outside our ‘hut and my young daughter would go out daily and shake the vine to see if a tart treat would fall down.

The tangy, yet sweet goo, mixed with lightly crunchy seeds was a delicious treat that we often looked forward to. Years later I found out that passionfruit grows quite well in temperate San Diego, so we planted one last winter to see if it could survive our black thumbs. Sure enough the vine went nuts and climbed up our magnolia tree and produced so much fruit that now we are having passionfruit on everything! Tropical breads are common in island communities, but not so much here. I looked for a passionfruit bread recipe but found many had banana or other elements. If you live in a sunny climate, try growing your own vine (they need lots of climbing space though) or see if your neighbors are over-loaded and can spare a few of these highly nutritious fruits!

Here’s my successful test kitchen quick bread recipe that you can whip up in minutes & be eating in an hour!

You Will Need:

• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 5 lilikoi / passionfruits (seeds and all!) * NOTE ABOUT SEEDS AT THE BOTTOM 
• 2 cups flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 7 tablespoons salted butter
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

How to Prepare: 

1. Pre-heat the oven to  350F degrees, preferably convection.
2. Grease a metal loaf tin with baking spray or vegetable oil.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugars together. Scoop out the passionfruit and stir into wet mixture.
4. Add the eggs slowly and mix until just combined.
5. Slowly hand mix in the flour and baking soda until everything is just slightly wet.
6. Pour in the batter into the tin and level out.
7. Bake for 55 minutes or until toothpick test comes out clean.
8. Leave the cake to cool completely in the tin until you remove and slice.

Ok, seeds. Passsionfruit seeds are light and crunchy. My family and I don’t mind them. However some people just can’t stand that extra crunch and want them out. You can ABSOLUTELY take the seeds out, but you’ll need a Food Mill to strain the seeds out. The pulp of a passionfruit is a bit sticky and you’ll have to work the seeds away from it. A food mill or even pulsing all the fruit pulp in a blending on LOW before straining can help separate the seeds. The nice things is that lilikoi juice is SO flavorful, that you really don’t need a whole lot to make this loaf amazing.