Paul Hollywood’s coconut and passion fruit traybake

Published: 21 Jul 25
Updated: 2 Aug 25

Paul Hollywood’s delightful coconut and passion fruit traybake is a great cake to serve a crowd, enjoy for afternoon tea or make for a bake sale. This simple bake with a tropical twist from the Bake Off star is bound to become a new family favourite.

Nostalgic treat: “Traybakes remind me of village fetes and bake sales as a kid. I remember making them when I was a Cub Scout!” says Paul. “They’re a great way to get into baking, and you can play around with different flavours and toppings. One thing to remember is to leave them to cool before you slice up – don’t rush it.”
Tropical flavours: enjoy the winning combination of sweet, creamy coconut and sharp, refreshing passion fruit. If you love citrussy or tropical flavours in your bakes, this is the cake for you.
Simple icing: whisk together mascarpone, lime, passion fruit pulp and icing sugar for an easy frosting.

Recipe taken from Celebrate by Paul Hollywood (Bloomsbury Publishing £26) and tested by delicious.

Browse more irresistible teatime traybake recipes.

Makes 12 squares
Prep time 20 min. Cook time 30 min, plus cooling

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Ingredients

200g unsalted butter, softened, plus extra to grease
200g caster sugar
Finely grated zest 2 limes
3 large eggs, at room temperature, beaten
200g self-raising flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
100g desiccated coconut
3 tbsp whole milk

For the topping

250g mascarpone
1 tbsp icing sugar
Finely grated zest and juice 2 limes
3 passion fruit
25g toasted coconut flakes

Specialist kit

30cm x 23cm x 5cm deep baking tin

Method

Heat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/gas 4. Grease the baking tin and line with baking paper. In a large bowl, beat the butter, sugar and lime zest using a hand-held electric whisk until light and fluffy. Gradually add the beaten eggs, beating well after each addition and adding a spoonful of flour halfway through. Add the vanilla extract and stir in.
Using a spatula or large metal spoon, carefully fold in the rest of the flour and the desiccated coconut. Finally, incorporate the milk until smoothly combined.
Transfer the mixture to the prepared tin and gently smooth the surface to level. Bake in the oven for 25–30 minutes until risen and springy to the touch. Leave the sponge to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then carefully turn out onto a wire rack and leave to cool completely.
For the topping, mix the mascarpone with the icing sugar and lime juice in a medium bowl. Cut each passion fruit in half and scoop out the seeds and juice into a small bowl. Add half of the passion fruit pulp to the mascarpone and stir to mix; save the rest for decoration.
Spread the mascarpone over the top of the cooled sponge using a palette knife. Trickle over the remaining passion fruit pulp and sprinkle with the toasted coconut flakes and grated lime zest to finish. Cut into squares to serve.

Recipe from August 2025 Issue

Nutrition

Nutrition: per serving

Calories: 439kcals
Fat: 31g (21g saturated)
Protein: 5.6g
Carbohydrates: 32g (20g sugars)
Fibre: 3.1g
Salt: 0.3g

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