I’m so excited to share this pink guava cake from my wonderful blog pal Alana’s book Aloha Kitchen: Recipes From Hawai’i!!! If you’re a reader of this blog you may know how much Hawai’i means to our family, guava always reminds me of POG juice and shave ice, and sippin’ on an icy, condensation-droplet-covered can of Passo-Guava Hawaiian Sun. Ahhhhhh… I think I also personally feel quite at home there (an Asian with tattoos!) and am very lucky to have visited several times in my life. It was my goal destination for when my chemo and radiation was over, back in 2015. Maui was where my husband sailed to from Vancouver, on a tiny sailboat with his best friend, and I flew and met him there, back in 2008. Hawai’i was even the theme of our own January wedding here in Vancouver, Canada back in 2007… so reading Alana’s cookbook brought back many memories of one of my favourite places ever!
Not only is Aloha Kitchen a beautifully photographed cookbook, but just flipping through it alone may very well make you start drooling – it is filled with everything I want to eat, that mash-up of Asian and Polynesian and “America” cultures resulting in things like Spam musubi, mochiko chicken, noodles, sushi, rice, kalbi beef… and desserts like this pink guava cake, tangy and soft, tender layers sandwiched with guava purée whipped frosting. I upped the “tang” and texture factor by adding my favourite freeze-dried raspberries to the top! (PS that’s my blog BFF Steph from I Am A Food Blog being my cake-holding model! Hehe.)
So dig right into this Aloha Kitchen guava cake! Perfect for summer or anytime you want to invite the warm glow and feel and deliciousness of Hawai’i into your life… If you can’t find guava puree or guava concentrate, simply reduce a 1 litre carton of 100% guava juice by boiling it over hight heat until its reduced by more than half, about 40 minutes. Any leftover guava concentrate can be swirled into yogurt or vanilla ice cream!
Aloha Kitchen Guava Cake
ingredients
For the guava cake
- 2 1/2 cups cake flour
- 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 11/4 cups sugar
- 6 large egg whites
- 1/4 neutral oil
- 1 cup whole milk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup guava purée or guava concentrate
- pink gel colouring, optional but cuteness factor high!
For the frosting
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
- 3/4 cups icing sugar, plus more if desired
- pinch of kosher salt
- tiny amount of pink gel colouring
- 1/2 cup guava purée or guava concentrate
instructions
Bake the cake
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Line a 9 by 13 inch baking pan with parchment paper – I used three 7 x 2 inch round pans.
- In a medium bowl, combine the cake flour, baking powder and kosher salt, whisking until combined.
- In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter and sugar and beat on medium speed until well combined, about 3 minutes.
- Add the egg whites, in three additions, beating each addition until well combined, about 1 minute.
- Add the oil and mix until combined, about 1 minute or more.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the milk, vanilla, guava purée and food colouring.
- On low speed, alternate between adding the wet and dry ingredients, mixing each until combined before adding the next addition.
- Pour the mixture into the parchment lined pan(s) and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean – 25-30 minutes for the one pan, 18-20 minutes for the three round pans. Let the cake cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Make the frosting
- In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the cream on medium speed for 1 to 2 minutes until frothy. Gradually increase the speed to high and whip until it’s light and fluffy with stiff peaks, another 2 to 3 minutes. Do not over whip! Transfer the whipped cream to a bowl.
- Return the bowl to the stand mixer and fit with the paddle attachment, no need to clean the bowl. Place the cream cheese in the bowl and mix on medium speed for 2 to 3 minutes, until smooth.
- Add the sugar and pinch of salt and increase the speed to high. Beat until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes.
- Gradually pour in the guava purée in four additions, making sure the purée is fully incorporated after each addition. Scrape down the sides with a rubber spatula as needed.
- Increase the speed to high and beat until smooth and incorporated.
- Remove the bowl from the stand and, using the spatula, gently fold in the whipped cream in three additions, incorporating completely after each addition.
Assemble the cake
- Fill the cooled cake layers with frosting, using an offset spatula to smooth. Add a generous layer of frosting to the top of the cake, spreading to the edges of the cake.
- Sprinkle with freeze dried raspberries and chill for at least two hours before serving!
Divya Malhotra
I have read this book. Its amazing, have given a try to few cakes recipes also. All were just superb.
Maz
Hiya!
Unfortunately this recipe was a complete no go for me. I even did it twice. Both times yucky. I’m very confident in the kitchen As I do baking for a living. Both times really bad. Was sooo looking forward to it working!
Lyndsay // Coco Cake Land
Hi Maz! I’m so sorry this didn’t work out for you – what was it that you didn’t like about it? Flavour? Texture? Thanks for stopping by!
Kaitlyn
The cakes didn’t bake correctly (not edible), and the frosting turns out watery, there’s no way it can truly hold a cake together. Had to waste a bunch of ingredients I was very bummed. Your ratios must not be right for the recipe.
Lyndsay // Coco Cake Land
Hi Kaitlyn! I just saw your comment, I’m so sorry the guava cake didn’t work out for you. It’s been a few years since I last made it – but the recipe I shared is the exact recipe from the cookbook Aloha Kitchen by Alana Kysar! I recall adding 1/4 cup more icing sugar to the frosting (which is reflected in my post – Alana calls for 1/2 cup icing sugar but I bumped it up to 3/4 cup, but this would thicken vs loosen the frosting) – I think maybe your whipped cream might have deflated when folding into the creamcheese mixture? Whipped cream needs to be a stiff peaks, and gently folded in to the creamcheese mixture. If the whipped cream goes back to “cream”, this mignt explain the loose frosting and it being too watery?
Without more context I’m not sure what to suggest about the bakes not baking correctly for you, so not sure what went wrong there. When mixing cake batter, try not to overmix and always mix on low speed to incorporate. Overmixing can cause gumminess in the final product.
Here’s another post for it on my friend Michelle’s site which might have more insight in comments for next time:
https://www.hummingbirdhigh.com/2022/07/guava-cake.html
Again, sad to hear it didn’t work out for you! Let me know if you have any more questions – thanks!
erica
What brand of guava puree/concentrate are you using? I’m thinking that may have to do w the texture in the other comments.
Lyndsay // Coco Cake Land
Hi! I think it was Ceres brand passionfruit juice!