This Dragon Fruit Cake got some science going on up in here!
But before we get to it let’s talk about dragon fruit also known as Pitaya
The most beautiful exotic fruit with the most underwhelming taste!
Seriously! How can such a beautiful, stunning, mesmerizing fruit be so drab when you taste it?
Please don’t let my negative description of the fresh fruit itself deter you from making this Dragon Fruit Cake!
Since once it all transforms into a cake, it is much better (in my opinion) than the fresh fruit itself
I realized quickly why there are no baked recipes for Dragon Fruit Cake
There is some science that needs to be known before baking with this delicate fruit powder!
Factors like pH level, solubility, oxygen, and most importantly baking temperature
Can all affect and minimize the vividness of the color of fruit powders to the point of complete deterioration.
Which is exactly what happened to me on my first try!
Believe me I was not going for the Ombre Effect Although it is pretty cool!
Not sponsored by any product or company below
Notes for Success:
The moral of my story is that Dragon Fruit is way better turned into a cake rather than eaten as a fresh raw fruit!
Unless you really love the ombre effect save your money and just make a strawberry cake and save the pink pitaya Dragon Fruit powder for something else!
There are two recipes listed out below
One for those who like the Ombre Effect with a cake texture more like a light genoise sponge cake using the dragon fruit powder
And another with the strawberry fruit powder for true purple batter and for those who want a super moist cake that tastes more like strawberry!
The recipe for the Ombre effect was achieved without using strawberry fruit powder so there is no error in the recipe ingredients
Additionally I used applesauce in place of some of the oil in that recipe
If you do not like to use applesauce you can use more oil
I did not use applesauce in the straight strawberry powder recipe since there is natural pectin in strawberry fruit powder and too much moisture by adding applesauce to this formula will make this version gummy
Dragon Fruit Cake~ Ombre Effect
Ingredients
For the Cake:
- 2 cups All Purpose Flour 250g
- 1 cup Cake Flour 120g
- 4 Tbs Pink Pitaya Powder
- 4 teaspoons Baking Powder
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 1¾ cups Granulated Sugar 350g
- ⅔ cup Vegetable Oil 160ml
- 4 Tbs Apple Sauce 56g
- 2 cups Plant Milk 480ml
- 2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract 10ml
For the Icing
- 1 Recipe Your Favorite Buttercream
- 4 teaspoons Pink Pitaya Powder
- 4 teaspoons Hot Water
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F Grease & parchment paper 3-7" cake pans
- In a large mixing bowl combine the oil, vanilla, plant milk & applesauce together & whisk smooth
- Sift together the flours, sugar, pink pitaya powder, salt & baking powder then add to the liquids in the bowl. Whisk vigorously until smooth, about 30 strokes
- Pour into the prepared pans & bake for 25-30 minutes for the 7" layers (longer for Bundt cakes & shorter for cupcakes) or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Cool in the cake pans, then flip onto a cooling rack to cool to cold
- Prepare your favorite buttercream recipe then separate it in half. Half will be white for the filling The other half for the icing will get the pink pitaya powder paste ~ simply mix pitaya powder with the hot water, then add to the buttercream when completely cold
Notes
STRAWBERRY PITAYA CAKE RECIPE
Strawberry Dragon Fruit Cake~ purple batter
Ingredients
For the Cake:
- 2 cups All Purpose Flour 250g
- 1 cup Cake Flour 120g
- 4 Tbs Freeze Dried Strawberry Fruit Powder
- 2 Tbs Pink Pitaya Powder
- 4 teaspoons Baking Powder
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 1½ cups Granulated Sugar 300g
- ⅔ cup Vegetable Oil 160ml
- 2 cups Plant Milk 480ml
- 2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract 10ml
For the icing
- 1 Recipe Buttercream
- Pink Pitaya Powder 4 teaspoons + 4 teaspoons hot water
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F Grease and parchment paper 3-7" cake pans
- In a large mixing bowl combine the oil, vanilla & plant milk together in a large & whisk smooth
- Sift together the flours, sugar, strawberry fruit powder, pink pitaya powder, salt & baking powder then add to the liquids in the bowl. Whisk vigorously until smooth, about 30 strokes
- Pour into the prepared pans and bake for 25-30 minutes for the 7" layers (shorter for cupcakes~ check at 18minutes) or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Cool in the cake pans, then flip onto a cooling rack to cool to cold
- Prepare your favorite buttercream recipe and then separate it in half.
- Half will be white for the filling The other half of the buttercream for the icing will get the pink pitaya powder paste ~ simply mix the pitaya powder with the hot water, add to the buttercream when completely cold
Notes
Interesting read. I’ve had problems in the past with strawberry cakes not having enough strawberry flavor unless I use jello. Is the powder you use freeze dried strawberries or an actual bag of powder? Can you really taste it? Love your recipes!! ❤
It’s the freeze dried fruit that I then put in a spice grinder to make powder!
I will add the picture in the recipe post (*I thought I did, but maybe took it out!)
It’s like those little packs of dried fruit snacks I get them at Big Lots!
I used a crushed vitamin C tablet instead of the strawberry powder— tasted like a vanilla cake! Plus we aren’t vegan here so I did use 2 eggs instead of applesauce. Turned out great!
I don’t get pitaya powder where I live. Can I use fresh fruit puree? And what quantity substituting powder+water?
Since this recipe was carefully formulated based on the properties of the Pitaya powder I would not recommend to change anything here but rather make another very similar recipe using fresh strawberries or strawberry puree CLICK HERE