Pawpaw (Papaya) Cake

Funke Koleosho's Pawpaw Cake

As part of my adventure to incorporate pawpaw into my cooking, I decided to bake a cake - yes, a pawpaw cake!!! I have not seen any cake recipe using pawpaw so this is a hit or miss trial situation.

I thought, if you can bake a carrot cake, surely you can bake a pawpaw cake.

It is quite simple. I used my usual cake recipe which is pretty much straight forward, and all I had to worry about was how to ensure that the pawpaw bits hold well within the cake batter and would not be soggy in the baked cake.

I diced the pawpaw, cooked it a little in some sugar, allowed it to cool and the jammy result was mixed into the batter. Really quite simple and I was not disappointed with the outcome.

If you like fruit cakes or if you like to savour texture in your cake then you would love this. The pawpaw taste is subtle and not overbearing. As a foodie, you have to try this recipe, if for nothing else, but for the taste and flavour experience, and you can boast, yes I have had a pawpaw cake!

What you need:

• 100g of very ripe, peeled and diced pawpaw (papaya) note: ensure that the pawpaw is a ripe one 
• 175g Plain Flour (sift to aerate) 
• 120g of Caster sugar 
• 175g of unsalted butter 
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder 
• 2 tablespoons of fresh milk or evaporated milk 
• 3 medium size eggs 

What to do:

1. Pre heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. 
2.  Pour the diced pawpaw into a small sauce pan, add two spoons of sugar, about a cup of water and boil for about 3 minutes under low heat. Allow to simmer until it reduces into a jammy, syrupy, gooey...mass. Set aside to cool. 
3. Then begin to make the cake batter by mixing butter and sugar together in a bowl until fluffy.  
4. Whisk the eggs and add to the mixture. Mix well. 
5. Mix the baking powder into the flour and gently add the to the mixture. Mix batter well with a wooden spoon. 
6. Add the pawpaw jam/syrup and the milk. Mix well until you achieve a batter that drops/flows easily when lifted with a spoon. Ensure the pawpaw is well distributed within the batter. 
7. Transfer batter into a baking pan and bake for 25/30 minutes or until cake is cooked through. Use the toothpick test to check when the cake is cooked. The tooth pick must come out clean when pierced into the cake. Note: this cake is a little dense, so once baked, remove from baking pan allow to cool (otherwise it may become soggy). Finito!

Pawpaw (papaya) cake

 (Read more about pawpaw here: Food Profile: Pawpaw (Papaya))