Saturday, September 30, 2006

Weekend Cookbook Challenge #9

The theme for this month's Weekend Cookbook Challenge, hosted by Sara of I like to Cook was an ingredient from my country.

After tossing various ideas back and forth I settled for an indigenous ingredient in the form of Wattle seed.

wattle seeds

These are roasted and ground Wattle seeds available from a company called Oz Tukka. The seeds are harvested in the wild by aboriginal communities - it's important to note even though there are over seven hundred varieties of wattle only a few are edible.

There is a resemblance to ground coffee and they do impart a somewhat subtle coffee flavour with elements of hazelnut and chocolate thrown in for good measure.

Since I was using an Australian ingredient I decided to double up and use an Australian cookbook by one of most well known doyens of the kitchen, Donna Hay.

With the flavouring of the seeds I added them to a rather simple white chocolate cake from Modern Classics Book 2 to turn it into something a little different.

cake

Wattle seed & White Chocolate Cakes
[Makes 12 individual cakes or 1 x 22cm/9 inch cake]

185 grams butter, diced
1 cup milk
1½ cups caster sugar
150 grams white chocolate, chopped
2 cups plain flour
1½ teaspoons baking powder
1½ teaspoons wattle seeds
2 eggs

Preheat the oven to 160°C/325°F.

Place the diced butter, milk, sugar and white chocolate into a small saucepan and over a low heat. Stir until melted and smooth.

Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl. Stir through the wattle seeds. Lightly whisk the eggs before stirring them into the flour. Whisk in the chocolate mixture to form a smooth batter.

Pour into pan and bake for around 50 minutes - if making individual cakes, check after 20 minutes.

Cool on wire racks - serve this warm or cold, perfect with a dollop of cream.

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5 comments

  1. Wow, sounds like a lovely combination. I wish that I had some of the Wattle Seeds to experiment with. i am especially interested because of the coffee notes that you say it contains.

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  2. It's very tasty and the seeds give the cakes a lovely delicate speckled appearance. I googled and found a company called Nirmala's Kitchen (in New York) and they sell australian ground wattle seeds. I'm not sure if Oz Tukka ships to the US but you could send them an email and ask.

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  3. Haalo, gorgeous as ususal! Good to see you at WCC again.

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  4. You always make me take a second glance at what you do, for you really know how to turn up the volume on modern dishes. In this case, you added wattle seed to a recipe for white chocolate cake. Your description of wattle seed is most appreciated because I had neither never heard of nor tasted it before now. Do you know if wattle seed is sold overseas? Maybe I will check in again when I return to New Zealand early next year. Thanks for the enlightening and always drool-inducing post.

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  5. Thanks Sara - it's always fun to take part and a great way to put all those cookbooks to use!

    Thanks so much Shaun - that's so nice of you! You can get wattleseeds in the states - Nirmala's Kitchen sells through amazon or you can order directly from their site (www.nirmalaskitchen.com) and it might be worth while sending an email off to Oz Tukka to see if they deliver (www.oztukka.com)

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