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- By Natalie Pitfield
When we first moved to our lifestyle block, there was a small orchard. There was a variety
of fruit trees, and I was thrilled.
of fruit trees, and I was thrilled.
Let me confess that I really dislike gardening. My grandmother and mother were gardening
goddesses, and my daughter is following suit. But the gene skipped me completely. In my
younger years, I even managed to kill a cactus.
I was determined to try my best to keep the fruit trees alive. I couldn’t actually identify a few of them until they fruited, but that was fine. It was a learning curve. We feasted on fruit as it grew. Mandarins, apples, peaches, nectarines. Then the guava fruited. They’re such lovely fruit, but all those little seeds make it really hard work to enjoy them. We had persimmons, and the final revelation was a tamarillo tree.
I’d never really encountered tamarillos before, but I was an instant fan. Then I found a recipe for tamarillo chutney, and I turned our excess fruit into a delicious condiment. It became so popular that I had friends messaging to ask if I had any chutney spare. I couldn’t keep up with demand.
Eventually, we renovated and had to move the orchard. We planted fruit trees on a hillside
above our house. I waited for them to grow and give us a heap of delicious fruit. One or two died within a short time, which was disappointing. Then the ones that fruited had small fruit that was very underwhelming. I realised that the hillside was extremely windy, and that was the main issue.
We built a windbreak using posts and some windbreak material. I waited to see if that would solve the problem. Sadly, it didn’t make much difference. The only tree that seemed to love the windy conditions was the lime tree. It was positively laden with huge limes that were absolutely delicious.
I laughed when my dog Akira would go and sniff the tree and seem to really enjoy the
fragrance of the fruit, leaves and flowers. We enjoyed our limes and accepted that we’d be
buying fruit from hereon.
RECIPE: Banana cake
Ingredients:
4 cups flour
3 tsp each: baking powder, baking soda
6 eggs
3 tsp vanilla
¾ cup canola oil
4 cups mashed bananas
3 cups sugar
1 ½ cups sour cream
3 tsp each: baking powder, baking soda
6 eggs
3 tsp vanilla
¾ cup canola oil
4 cups mashed bananas
3 cups sugar
1 ½ cups sour cream
Cream Cheese Frosting:
200g cream cheese
115g butter, softened
2 tsp vanilla or other flavouring
4 cups icing sugar
200g cream cheese
115g butter, softened
2 tsp vanilla or other flavouring
4 cups icing sugar
Method:
- Preheat oven to 160°C. Line a 26cm cake pan with baking paper, ensuring it is 5cm
higher than the rim of the pan. This cake can also be made in loaf or square pans. - Sift the flour, baking powder and baking soda into a large bowl.
- In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, then add the vanilla essence and oil. Add to the dry
ingredients along with the bananas, sugar and sour cream. Mix until combined. - Pour the batter into the cake pan. Bake for 1 ¾ hrs or until a skewer inserted into the
centre of the cake comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack. - To prepare the icing, beat together the cream cheese, butter and vanilla until light and
creamy. Gradually beat in icing sugar until smooth. Chill. - When the cake is cool, ice with the cream cheese icing.
Serves 12.
