Persimmon Cake
Ingredients
Cake
Melted butter
Flour
1¼ cup caster sugar
1 cup full cream milk
2 eggs
3 - 4 very ripe original or sweet persimmons (you need 1½ cups of puree)
2 tsp vanilla bean paste or natural vanilla extract
2½ cups plain flour, sifted
½ tsp baking powder, sifted
2 tsp bi-carb of soda, sifted
2 tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp nutmeg
Generous pinch of ground cloves
½ tsp salt
Cream Cheese Icing
125g cream cheese, softened
½ cup icing sugar, sifted
1 Tbs lemon juice
50g unsalted butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla bean paste, or natural vanilla extract (optional)
? cup chopped toasted pecan nuts*
Method
Preheat oven to 160ºC or 150ºC fan forced.
For persimmon puree:
Remove calyx and scoop pulp out with a spoon. Discard skin and seeds, then blitz pulp with a stick blender or blender to make 1½ cups of puree.
Set aside at room temperature.
For the cake:
With a pastry brush, thoroughly grease ring tin with melted butter.
Spoon a couple of tablespoons full of plain flour into tin, turning and shaking it until the inside is completely coated.
Bang tin firmly on bench top to loosen excess flour, then discard.
With a whisk, roughly mix all the wet ingredients and sugar in a medium - large bowl.
Fold dry ingredients into the wet mixture in 3 to 4 batches until you have a relatively smooth batter.
Pour into the ring tin and bake for 50 mins to 1 hour, or until skewer comes out clean.
Allow cake to sit for a few seconds before turning out onto a cooling rack.
To prepare icing, combine all ingredients and cream with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy.
When cake has cooled completely, slather roughly with cream cheese icing and sprinkle nuts over the top.
*Note: To toast pecan nuts, simply chop roughly and then dry toast in a frypan on a medium heat until nice and golden. You may also roast in a pre-heated oven at 160ºC for 5 to 10 mins. Cool before using.
ABOUT AUSTRALIAN PERSIMMONS:
One person impatiently anticipating the harvest of the yellowy-orange orbs is Poh Ling Yeow, persimmon-lover, presenter of ABC TV’s Poh Lends a Hand, best-selling author and MasterChef allstar.
“Despite the fact that persimmons have been grown here for decades, many Aussies are yet to try this exotic fruit, so this season I’m challenging everyone to be adventurous and give them a go. Persimmons truly are the perfect addition to your autumn eating agenda offering an almost indescribable subtle, sweet flavour and fantastic textures to boot,” she said.
Along with their flavour credentials, persimmons have double the dietary fibre of apples, are high in anti-oxidants and are an excellent source of Vitamin C and beta carotene.
Equipment
26cm fluted ring tin
