Guava Cake is a deliciously moist Hawaiian dessert bursting with tropical flavor and is perfect to enjoy with friends during the summer time!
This Cake Recipe has the perfect sweet and light tropical flavor for the ultimate summer dessert. For more fruity cakes perfect for summer check out my Key Lime Cake and Hawaiian Cake.
Why You’ll Love This Cake?
- Guava in an impressive, different, delicious fruit variation to serve.
- Perfect, refreshing dessert to serve in the Summer.
Sabrina’s Guava Cake Recipe
A Honolulu bakery first created Guava Cake, which has since become a popular Hawaiian dessert and is now being baked by dessert lovers worldwide. It’s the perfect cake to add to a dessert menu for a party, serve for a birthday, or enjoy during a summer cookout.
Recipe Card
Ingredients
Sponge Cake:
- 1 cup sugar
- 5 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/4 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Simple Syrup:
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup guava juice
- 3/4 cup sugar
Guava Sauce:
- 8 ounces guava paste
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
- 2 drops red food coloring
- 1 drop yellow food coloring
Whipped Cream Frosting:
- 24 ounces cream cheese , softened
- 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 4 cups heavy cream
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon coconut extract
Instructions
Sponge Cake:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and butter and spray a 9" springform pan with baking spray and line with parchment paper.
- Add eggs and sugar to a stand mixer and beat on high speed for 8 minutes.
- Add vanilla extract and beat for 20 seconds.
- Sift together flour, baking powder and salt, then add to the eggs with a spatula, folding it in gently until just combined.
- Spread into the springform pan evenly and bake for 35-40 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Cool cake completely.
Simple Syrup:
- Add water, guava juice and sugar to a saucepan, bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer on medium-low heat.
- Let simmer for 18-20 minutes until thickened and reduced to a syrup.
- Let cool.
Guava Sauce:
- Add guava paste, water, sugar and lime juice to a medium saucepan.
- Stir well, bring to a simmer, then remove from heat.
- If the sauce is too thick, add 1-2 tablespoons of water. If the sauce is too thin, cook down for an additional 1-2 minutes until it reaches the desired consistency.
- Let cool.
Whipped Cream Frosting:
- Add the cream cheese and powdered sugar to your stand mixer at medium speed for 1 minute.
- Remove from stand mixer and set aside.
- Add the heavy cream, vanilla extract and coconut extract to the stand mixer and beat on high speed until soft peaks form.
- Add in the cream cheese mixture and beat on medium speed until creamy, about 1 minute.
To Finish:
- To your cake stand add a spoonful of whipped cream frosting.
- Cut the cake into three even layers horizontally with a large serrated knife and discard the excess pieces.
- Brush off excess crumbs.
- Brush the simple syrup onto the top of each cake layer.
- Add the first layer of the cake to the cake stand.
- Top with 1 cup of whipped cream frosting and ⅓ of the guava sauce, spread evenly.
- Top with the second layer of cake, add 1 cup of frosting, spread.
- Add the ⅓ of the guava sauce.
- Top with remaining layer of cake.
- Frost the cake with half the remaining whipped cream frosting.
- Pipe swirly mounds onto the top of the cake with remaining frosting and top with remaining guava sauce.
Nutrition
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Note from Sabrina
Guava paste is a special ingredient you will need to make this delicious tropical cake. It may be harder to find in your regular grocery store, so I suggest heading to a grocery store that sells Latin American food items or possibly an Asian foods grocery store. You could also order it online, or if feeling real adventurous, make a homemade guava paste. Make sure you get guava paste though, because guava jelly is very different and won’t work well in this recipe.
Table of contents
About this Recipe
My Guava Cake recipe starts with a simple sponge cake. I add a homemade guava simple syrup that seeps into the airy cake to make it extra moist and sweet. I finish this layer cake with a light, sweet and tangy whipped cream cheese frosting and homemade guava sauce.
Ingredients
- Eggs: This sponge cake recipe’s base is made with 5 eggs. The eggs give the cake structure, stability, and flavor. You can create an airy mixture by beating the egg yolks and egg whites with granulated sugar. The air bubbles in the mixture ensure that the sponge cake turns out with a tender, moist crumb.
- Flour: Use 1 ¼ cups flour for the vanilla sponge cake. Cake flour is ideal because it has more gluten and creates a fluffier cake. But all-purpose flour works as well. Be sure to sift the flour before adding it to the egg mixture to remove any lumps before mixing the cake batter together.
- Guava Sauce: Simple syrup is typically made with equal parts water and sugar. But for this version, you’ll add guava juice to the mixture. The cup of guava juice enhances the syrup with a beautiful tropical flavor.
- Guava Paste: To flavor the guava sauce, you’ll need 8 ounces of guava paste. Guava paste is made from guava fruit and sugar. It’s a thick mixture sometimes made with pectin, which can thicken the guava sauce. After mixing it with the ingredients to make a sauce, pour it over the cake frosting.
Kitchen Tools & Equipment
- 9-inch Springform Pan: A springform pan has removable sides to easily remove the baked cake.
- Stand Mixer: A stand mixer lets you mix the cake ingredients hands free which helps with adding in more ingredients slowly while the cake is constantly mixing.
- Large Serrated Knife: You’ll need a large knife to cut the cake into layers.
- Cake Stand or Cake Plate: The cake stand features a raised base that elevates the cake above the countertop, which makes decorating the cake easier as well as display the cake nicely.
Can this be made ahead of time?
If you want to prep this cake in advance, it’s best to wait to add the syrup, frosting, and other toppings. Instead, bake the sponge cake, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap, and store it for later. When you’re ready to assemble the Guava Cake, let it thaw to room temperature and make the toppings to add to the recipe.
Recipe Tips & Tricks
- Use Measuring Cups and Spoons: Accurate measurement of ingredients, especially for baking powder, flour, and sugar, is crucial for achieving the right texture and flavor.
- Prevent Sticking: Grease and flour your cake pans or line them with parchment paper to prevent sticking. This is especially important for cakes with moist batters.
- Cool the Cake: Let the cake cool in the pans for 10 minutes before transferring it to a wire rack. This helps prevent it from breaking apart.
Serving Ideas
When serving Guava Cake, you can top it off with fresh fruit like pineapple and strawberry slices. They make great decorations and taste delicious with fresh guava flavor. You can also serve the cake slices with a scoop of Vanilla Ice Cream. The cool and creamy topping makes the perfect combo with this refreshing tropical treat on a hot summer day.
How to Store
- Store: Cover the cake or store leftover pieces in an airtight container to keep it fresh. Keep the cake in the fridge for 3-4 days, then let it come to room temperature again before serving.
- Freeze: You can freeze sponge cake for up to 30 days, but the recipe won’t freeze well after adding the frosting and guava syrup.
Frequent Questions
Guava is a tropical fruit with green or yellow skin but pink insides. Its sweet taste is like a cross between a pear and a strawberry. You can add the sweet, tropical fruit flavor to this cake recipe using guava syrup.
Sponge cakes use whipped eggs or whipped egg whites as the recipe’s base. This creates an airy texture, and like a sponge, the cake can soak up syrup toppings. That’s why it’s the perfect base cake recipe for Guava Cake: It absorbs the guava flavor from the homemade simple syrup.
Variations
- Cake Mix: To make the guava cake recipe easier, you could make a simple cake batter with cake mix. Feel free to use strawberry, vanilla, or yellow cake mix. To make the cake mix batter turn out perfectly moist, you can change the instructions on the back of the box. Replace the water with milk, the oil with melted butter, and add an additional egg. Using a strawberry cake mix, you will have a pink cake.
- Coconut Frosting: Instead of making the cream cheese frosting as usual, you can make coconut cream cheese frosting. Add coconut extract to the cream cheese mixture. Guava cake and coconut cream cheese frosting make this cake a coconut lover’s dream. You could also sprinkle sweetened coconut flakes over to top to make this cake true coconut heaven.
- Fruit Mix-Ins: Another way to add amazing flavor to your cake is with fruit. You can mix in pineapple tidbits, diced strawberries, or raspberries.
Related Recipes
More Delicious Tropical Cake Recipes
Photos used in previous version of post:
I made this cake for my niece, who requested it for her birthday celebration since her favorite flavor combo is guava and cream cheese. She absolutely loved the cake, as well as the rest of the party guests that were there.
I followed the recipe exactly as written, except that it would have been extremely difficult (or impossible!) to cut the sponge cake into 3 thin layers to make it a 3 layer cake. So I made it a 2 layer cake, and it still turned out delicious, but I had a lot of frosting left over.
Thank you for sharing the photos! Looks yummy and thanks for the insightful review…I’ll take a look at the recipe!
I made this cake for my niece, who requested it for her birthday celebration since her favorite flavor combo is guava and cream cheese. She absolutely loved the cake, as well as the rest of the party guests that were there.
I followed the recipe exactly as written, except that it would have been extremely difficult (or impossible!) to cut the sponge cake into 3 thin layers to make it a 3 layer cake. So I made it a 2 layer cake, and it still turned out delicious, but I had a lot of frosting left over.
Also, after I made the cake and we ate it, I realized that the food coloring listed in the ingredients is supposed to go in the guava simple syrup, not the guava sauce, since the guava paste for the sauce is already red.
Looks like you did a wonderful job making this adjustment! I will make sure the recipe instructions read a bit more clearly. thank you for pointing this out and thanks for the 5 stars!
This cake looks amazing!
Do you have a conversion recipe for using 3×10″round cake pans (2″ high) or a 10″ springform pan instead of a 9″?