When the evenings begin to nip and the light becomes clearer than it has been for months, you know it’s pawpaw time. The fruit of Asimina triloba begins to ripen in early autumn. My pawpaw streusel cake is a fall treat that uses aromatic pawpaw pulp, freed of its glossy seeds, and spiced with native spicebush—a forest companion of pawpaw trees—whose warm orange inflections seem created for this pawpaw pairing.
Read on for a pawpaw cake recipe, a source for the spicebush, and where to buy pawpaws in (and out) of season.
A quick recap in case of confusion: What pawpaw are we talking about? Our pawpaw is cold-hardy and native to Eastern North America. The tree is in the genus Asimina, and the most commonly-seen species is A. triloba. It is related to soursop and custard apples, and shares their distinctively big, glossy seeds. The flavor of native pawpaw is complex, like pineapple and passion fruit with strong hints of caramel. But pawpaw is also the name in some (previously or currently) Commonwealth countries for papaya—subtropical and tropical Papaya carica—filled with myriad tiny, peppery seeds.
When I first began developing a recipe for pawpaw streusel cake, I relied on the very good pawpaw purée as well as fresh fruit shipped by Integration Acres, a diversified farm and foraging outfit in Southeast Ohio (and also the founders of the annual Ohio Pawpaw Festival). These pioneering pawpaw advocates also sell dried spicebush berries (they’re actually drupes, botanically—the fruit of Lindera benzoin; picture allspice, but more oval than round). Now, I have a more local network of trees, wild and tame, to provide fruit when I am vigilant with the timing and lucky with the weather.
Pawpaws need to be within a few of days of ripeness when harvested. Left in a bag, like avocados, they will ripen. But, unlike avocados, if they are picked too hard and green, they’ll just sit there, untransformed, all their months of maturing wasted. A light touch or gentle shaking of a branch should dislodge the ready fruit.
Pawpaw Purée
This is an effective way to preserve pawpaw pulp—its flavor stays magically intact after freezing and thawing. Use it for this cake, as well as for life-changing ice cream.
Slice ripe, soft pawpaws in half, remove the fat seeds, and scrape the pulp into a bowl. Transfer the pulp to a food processor and spin until smooth (or press it through a strainer). Make sure not to include any seeds by accident. Like other fruit seeds, they are toxic, and in this case, highly laxative. Freeze the pulp in small containers, or use straight away.
Pawpaw Streusel Cake
Adapted from Forage, Harvest, Feast—A Wild-Inspired Cuisine, Chelsea Green Books.
Makes one 8 or 9-inch round, or one 8 or 9-inch square cake
This indulgently delicious cake sings of pawpaw, with the fruit’s unique flavor and fragrance staying true through the baking process. If you don’t have spicebush (ak.a. Appalachian allspice) for the streusel, substitute a ¼ teaspoon of cardamom.
The recipe doubles well for a crowd.
Pawpaw Streusel Cake Topping
- ½ cup toasted and chopped pecans, walnuts or hazelnuts
- 2 Tablespoons sugar
- 1 Tablespoon ground spicebush (or ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom – different but delicious)
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
Pawpaw Streusel Cake Batter
- 4 ounces unsalted butter
- 8 ounces sugar
- 1¾ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 large eggs
- ¾ cup pawpaw purée
- 2 Tablespoons yogurt
- 1 Tablespoon bourbon (optional)
- ¼ teaspoon orange zest
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 Tablespoon baking powder
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Prepare an 8-inch springform or square pan by lining the bottom and sides with baking parchment (the sides should stand just above the rim of the pan).For the streusel: In a small bowl mix the chopped nuts with the sugar, spicebush, and salt.
For the cake: In a large bowl beat the butter with the sugar until pale. Sprinkle some flour onto the mixture and then add the eggs, beating as you go. Add the pawpaw pulp. When it is smoothly incorporated, add the yogurt, bourbon, the rest of the flour, zest, salt, and baking powder. Mix well but briefly. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan.
Sprinkle the nut topping evenly across the batter.
Slide into the oven and bake for 65 minutes, or until an skewer inserted all the way comes out clean.
Remove the cake from the oven. Place the pan on a cooling rack and let sit for 5 minutes. Lift the cake from the pan (or release the spring). Gently pull off the side-parchment. After the cake has cooled, lift it carefully from its base and pull off the bottom parchment.
Now brew some good coffee. It is ready.
Pawpaw Resources
The Horn Farm Center’s 21st Annual Pawpaw Festival takes place in York, PA on Saturday, 20th September. Visitors will find wild and cultivated varieties of pawpaw fruit and trees for sale, can attend pawpaw orchard tours, and much more. Tickets must be purchased online in advance.
- General Admission tickets are $7
- Premium access tickets (9 a.m. to 10 a.m. entry) are $36
- Free admission for children 12 and under
The seminal and annual Ohio Pawpaw Festival took place last weekend outside Athens, OH. It is worth a trip. Plan for 2026.
In Brooklyn, New York, Bradley Farms brings pawpaws to the Grand Army Plaza greenmarket in October – their trees grow near New Paltz, NY.
Integration Acres, OH ships frozen high-quality pawpaw pulp (as well as dried spicebush).
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