My friend Miss Sydney (actually she’s Mrs Sydney now) obviously lives in Sydney.

She used to live in Brisbane and I do make an effort to convince her to return but to no avail.

Recently she celebrated her 30th Birthday but sadly I wasn’t able to make it down for the occasion.

As luck would have it, two weeks later she messaged me one Wednesday night saying she would be up in Brisbane the following day and was I free.

She could only do before or after work hours (mid-week nights are a bit tricky here for obvious reasons) and neither of us was busy Friday morning (that’s if you don’t count getting Ollie ready for daycare as busy – my skills have room for improvement!) so a breakfast date it was to be.

Ollie and I used it as an excuse for a teeny tiny Birthday celebration and on Thursday afternoon whipped up this tropical cake to honour the occasion.

I’m not kidding when I say he helped. He loves sitting up with me and watching the mixer and seeing what’s going on and of course I love that he’s interested.

If he’s not in the kitchen and he hears the mixer or Thermomix or me doing anything in the kitchen he comes running and wants to be lifted up to have a peek.

It also means he’s not keen to miss out when it comes time for serving the goods that he had a hand in creating which I guess is fair enough.

It makes me a lot more creative with my baking and this tropical cake is not only delicious and a nice little taste of summer in the cold weather, but it’s refined sugar-free and has some added goodies like macadamia meal and carrots.

You could ice it with buttercream (it would go very nicely) but I whipped up some cream with a little bit of natural yoghurt, vanilla and passionfruit (a bit like yoghurt cream that tops my brown sugar pavlova).

I think Ollie may have liked the ‘icing’ better than the cake this time – I was team cake. Enjoy!

What about you? Do you try to convince your interstate friends to move back near you?

A little hint: make sure you grease and line the cake tin well before pouring in the batter.

Tropical cake

Name: Tropical cake
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 1 h
Total time: 1 h 20 min
Yield: 12
Ingredients: 125g (4oz) butter; 125g(4oz) coconut oil; 1 tsp vanilla bean paste; 2 medium bananas; 180g (6oz) coconut sugar; 2 small carrots, ends trimmed and chopped into chunks; 4 free-range eggs; 130g (4oz) macadamia meal (or almond meal); 1 passionfruit; 100g (3oz) wholemeal plain flour; 60g (2oz) desiccated coconut; 3 tsp baking powder; 2 tsp cinnamon powder; 1 tsp ginger powder

Yield: 12

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes

Ingredients

125g (4oz) butter
125g(4oz) coconut oil
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
2 medium bananas
180g (6oz) coconut sugar
2 small carrots, ends trimmed and chopped into chunks
4 free-range eggs
130g (4oz) macadamia meal (or almond meal)
1 passionfruit
100g (3oz) wholemeal plain flour
60g (2oz) desiccated coconut
3 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon powder
1 tsp ginger powder

Instructions

Pre-heat the oven to 160C (320F) fan-forced and grease and line a 20cm (9”) round cake tin.
Place the butter, coconut oil, vanilla, banana and sugar in the bowl of a food processor or Thermomix and whiz them together until they are light and fluffy.
Scrape down the sides and add the carrots then blitz until they are shredded.
Scrape down the sides then add the eggs one-at-a-time mixing between each one.
Scrape down the sides again and add the macadamia meal, passionfruit, flour, coconut, baking powder, cinnamon and ginger and mix just until combined.
Scrape the batter into the tin and bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour or until a cake tester inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Leave to rest in the tin for 5 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
I iced mine with about a cup of whipped cream mixed with 4 tbsp plain natural yoghurt, a teaspoon of vanilla bean paste and extra passionfruit pulp.

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12 Comments

Mrs Sydney on June 25, 2015 at 2.14 pm
So pretty and yummy too! x
- Claire on June 25, 2015 at 3.44 pm
  Glad you liked it! x
Elizabeth on June 24, 2015 at 10.12 pm
What a delicious looking cake Claire, only being back on the Gold Coast for 2.5 years from Sydney… My friends are finally coming to visit!!! I think it might be all the short sleeve shirt and summer dress pics I post on Facebook during winter as they are all coming in July and August :-) Liz xx
- Claire on June 25, 2015 at 4.30 pm
  haha yes I’d be visiting the GC from Sydney around that time of year too! x
Hotly Spiced on June 24, 2015 at 1.05 pm
Is this the friend who was having the birthday lunch at Chiswick? You missed a good lunch. Great that you could catch up to celebrate with her and you made a beautiful cake. I remember the days of having little hands helping me! You’ve got some beautiful ingredients in this cake xx
- Claire on June 24, 2015 at 1.16 pm
  It is indeed Charlie good memory! I hope I always have some little hands helping me (even when they get bigger!) x
Maureen | Orgasmic Chef on June 24, 2015 at 11.08 am
I like Diane’s jam idea but I can’t take my eyes off this cake. What a gem and I think it’s cute that Ollie wants help (or watch).
I hope you’re staying well and getting enough rest.
- Claire on June 24, 2015 at 12.54 pm
  Well right now I’m lying on the couch in the middle of the day so yep definitely resting but resting because I have a daycare cold. He’s such a good helper!
Jessica @ Sweetest Menu on June 24, 2015 at 8.19 am
This cake looks lovely! I’m a new reader of your blog, looking forward to exploring more of your delicious recipes! :)
- Claire on June 24, 2015 at 12.54 pm
  Welcome Jessica!
Diane Jogia on June 23, 2015 at 4.53 pm
Cumquat jam tip (from my sister) – cook the fruit and water overnight in the slow cooker – no need to watch and stir. Next morning (or whenever you are ready) put the fruit into a large saucepan, bring to the boil, add sugar and lemon juice, and cook/test as usual. I made jam this morning like this and it takes a bit more of the time stress out of the process. Learning something every day…… I am heading up to Townsville on Friday; looking forward to a couple of weeks in the warm :)
- Claire on June 23, 2015 at 9.15 pm
  What a great idea Diane! I will definitely try that next time. Strawberries are coming down in price so I think it will be jam time soon.