If this cake looks familiar, then it most certainly is. Buoyed by the success of the Orange and Cranberry Bundt, I decided to make a version with some very special berries from NamaYasai Farm. I heard of the farm when attending a workshop on making Japanese pickles (I will write a separate post on this).
I collected my first vegetable box from a local hub yesterday. In it were an assortment of interesting leaves: mizuna, karashina, komatsuna, New Zealand spinach, and a type of beetroot called Eckendorf. All the vegetables and fruit are grown without the use of chemicals (not even organic fertilisers) and are harvested on the day of delivery.
It is possible to order extras and I added some haskap berries, edible flowers, salted yuzu and yomogi. When I unpacked the vegetables. it was like being transported to an exotic greengrocer.
Haskap berries
Since the recipe is identical to the Orange and Cranberry Bundt, please simply use that recipe and substitute the berries for the frozen cranberries. As the berries are fresh instead of frozen, the cake batter will only need 50 – 55 minutes’ baking time instead of the 60 minutes necessary when using frozen berries.
The taste of haskap berry is a bit like a more sour version of blueberry. I like its slightly flat and elongated shape. There were issues with my fridge/ freezer and so I used the berries immediately, thinking that I could not prolong its delicate texture for long.
I will make salads with some of the leaves from NamaYasai Farm, but for dinner this evening I made a sir-fry with the stalks from the Eckendorf beet (the beet will be sliced and pickled, and the leaves will be added to a noodle dish) and New Zealand spinach, adding a few baby corn.
Eckendorf beet stalks (top) and NZ spinach (middle)
I listened to the Audible recording of Theo of Golden by Allen Levi when sorting out my fridge/ freezer, making the cake and preparing the vegetables. All along I thought what a fine book it is, beautifully written (and narrated), with a gentle pace and intelligent observations about human relationships. I will write a review when I have finished listening to it.