A Second Slab Cake

Jasmine genoise with passion fruit and salted vanilla

I was in a little bit of a playful mood this week, so think of this as a bit of an experiment, one that I hope you’ll agree turned out very well.

My aim was to make a cake that felt like the opposite of the chocolate and caramel slab cake, opposite in terms of colour and flavour, something bright and citrussy instead of rich and dark. For the base of the cake, I chose my go-to olive oil genoise cake, infusing it with jasmine green tea. For the fillings, I went with the brightest of all the fruits, passion fruit, and paired it with white chocolate to make an incredibly silky and creamy ganache. To balance out the acidity in the filling, I went with a salted vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream, which I am currently a little obsessed with. Altogether, I think it makes for a sophisticated cake that has a certain special something that makes it sing.

When it comes to making cakes like these, I do think they can seem a little intimidating because they seem rather fussy, with multiple elements and nice, neat lines. To make it successfully and without losing your head, just take your time. Whilst it is absolutely possible to make this in a single day, I prefer to split the work over two days to make things a little less time pressured. Make the ganache and soak on day one, and the sponge and buttercream on the day of assembly.