My first ever go at guava and I can officially say I’m now a guava girl. This filling, people…this filling! I could happily eat guava filling every single day for the rest of my life. Silky smooth, bursting with sweet, but not too sweet, guava flavour.
And the buttercream…the oh so wonderfully adventurous chocolate wasabi buttercream. I’m drooling with heavenly memories of it. I feed every single one of my cake creations to my children, so know that this is not a sock-you-in-the-face wasabi buttercream. It’s a subtle kick at the end of a dreamy chocolate bite. Bold cake flavours should be exactly that, right?! Fun. Bold. Not disgusting. So you adventurous cake souls (know that you’re my kind of people) let’s get a bit weird.
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Grocery Store Inspiration
I was browsing through the bulk section of the grocery store. Have I mentioned how I love a neat bulk find? Anyways…I was browsing up and down the aisles when I spotted a container of those bright green wasabi peas. Cue the heavenly host of angelic singing. Inspiration hit hard. I scooped a bag full of those tasty little wasabi treats and headed down the ethnic food aisle.
Not too long in my trek a can of guava nectar practically leaped off the shelf and threw itself at my mercy. Wasabi? Guava? Yep…sounded like a winning combination to me. In the basket, I tossed a few cans and went on my merry way through the rest of grocery shopping.
Reducing The Guava
After experimenting with and creating cakes for so long I’ve learned a thing or two. One of those things being that using fruit juice or nectar alone in a recipe will not give enough flavour to pop. It needs to be reduced to concentrate the flavour. For this recipe start with 3 cups of guava nectar and reduce it by half.
Over medium heat in a small pot bring the guava nectar to boil and then reduce the heat to low and let it simmer until it has decreased in volume by half. That means you will want approximately 1 ½ cups of nectar left when you are done. This is going to pack in 3 cups worth of flavour into only 1 ½ cups of liquid. Bam…instant flavour punch! This reduced guava nectar will be used in both the cake batter and the filling.
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Guava Chocolate Wasabi Cake
- Total Time: 2 Hr 30 Min
- Yield: 10 Slices 1x
Description
Sweet guava cake bursting with genuine guava flavour surrounded with delicate chocolate buttercream and a wasabi kick. A fun bold cake flavour for an adventurous person.
Ingredients
Guava Cake
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⅓ cup dairy-free salted butter, room temperature
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1 ½ cups granulated sugar
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½ cup egg whites (approx 4 egg whites), room temperature
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¼ cup dairy-free yogurt, room temperature
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1 tbsp. vanilla extract
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2 ½ cups cake flour, sifted
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1 ½ tsp. baking powder
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½ tsp. baking soda
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1 tsp. fine sea salt
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⅔ cup reduced guava nectar
Guava Filling
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¼ cup granulated sugar
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2 tbsp. cornstarch
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½ cup reduced guava nectar
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1 tbsp. lemon juice
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1 tbsp. dairy-free salted butter
Chocolate Wasabi Buttercream
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1 cup dairy-free salted butter, room temperature
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1 cup vegetable shortening
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8 cups powdered sugar
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½ cup dairy-free chocolate chips, melted
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1 tbsp. vanilla extract
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1 tsp. fine sea salt
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¼ cup dairy-free milk
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1 cup wasabi peas
Instructions
Equipment
Guava Cake
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare three 6-inch round cake pans.
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Bring 3 cups of guava nectar to a boil and reduce heat to low and allow to gently simmer. Remove from heat after quantity has reduced in half, approx. 10 minutes. Let cool while mixing up the cake batter.
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In the bowl of a stand mixer cream butter and sugar on high for 1 minute.
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Add egg whites and mix on high for 2 minutes.
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Add the yogurt and vanilla extract and mix on high for 2 minutes.
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Combine all the dry ingredients into the mixer and mix on low
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While the mixer is on low slowly pour in ⅔ cup of reduced guava nectar and mix until combined. Be careful to not overmix the batter.
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Divide batter between pans and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out with a few crumbs.
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Cool in pans for 10 minutes and then invert on a cooling rack to fully cool.
Guava Filling
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In a medium pot combine sugar, cornstarch, and water and mix until smooth.
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Cook mixture on medium-low heat constantly stirring until mixture thickens and comes to a boil. Let boil for 1 minute and remove from heat.
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Add in the reduced guava nectar, lemon juice, and butter and stir until melted and fully combined.
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Let fully cool before filling cake.
Chocolate Wasabi Buttercream
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In a small pot over medium heat, bring the milk to a boil. Add the wasabi peas and allow them to come back up to a boil and then remove from heat. Allow to fully cool to room temperature and strain out the wasabi peas.
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In the bowl of a stand mixer beat the butter and shortening on high speed with the paddle attachment until light and fluffy. Approximately 5-10 minutes.
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Add the powdered icing sugar, salt, vanilla extract, and wasabi-infused milk and mix on low until combined.
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In a microwave-safe bowl, melt the chocolate chips in 30-second intervals until fully melted and smooth. Slowly pour melted chocolate into the buttercream and mix on low.
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Turn the mixer up to medium and let mix for 5 minutes until smooth and creamy. Scrape the sides of the bowl when necessary.
Cake Assembly
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Place one leveled layer of guava cake on a cake board or plate. Top with approximately 1 cup of buttercream.
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Pipe a border of buttercream around the edge and fill with approximately ⅓ cup guava filling. Repeat with the remaining layers and apply a thin coat of buttercream all over the cake. Refrigerate for 20 minutes.
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Cover the cake with another layer of buttercream and smooth sides.
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Decorate as you please. I left the top edge raw and unfinished for a rustic aesthetic and used leftover wasabi peas, chocolate, and dried guava to decorate a top border. Enjoy.
- Prep Time: 2 Hrs
- Cook Time: 30 Mins
- Category: Cakes
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: baking, cake, guava chocolate cake recipe, dairy-free guava chocolate cake recipe, wasabi cake recipe, dairy-free guava chocolate cake recipe, dairy free wasabi chocolate cake recipe, guava cake recipe
What are wasabi peas? Can a wasabi paste be used instead?
I have not tested it with wasabi paste but I would imagine it could be used.