Season's eatings: carambola cake

I have a friend with a house in the sprawling hills behind Byron Bay. In her orchard she has a star fruit (otherwise known as a carambola) tree. The fruit hang off the limbs like Christmas decorations. The blossoms are a beautiful mauve colour, clustered together, appearing at the same time as fully developed fruit. Native to Malaysia and Indonesia, the star fruit tree grows in wet, humid climates with distinct dry seasons. The trees propagate well in southern coastal Queensland, the Northern Territory and northern NSW. Trees in the tropics produce fruit all year round, those trees grown towards the more southern parts of the growing region will have a drop in production during the earlier, cooler months, but with the arrival of spring they will start producing well again.

A five winged fruit – it is only when cut that the star shape is revealed. Star fruit make a beautiful addition to a fruit salad, especially during the festive season, but at this time of year I like it best as the base for an upside down cake. It makes such a decorative ‘top’ when the cake is flipped.

With thin, waxy skin the fruit has a crisp, refreshing flavour reminiscent of a pineapple, especially when cooked. There is some astringency associated with the tips of the wings, but to counter this you can slice a thin sliver off the tips of the wings, which shouldn’t affect the star shape too much when cut crosswise. These wings can bruise easily, so handle star fruit carefully. The fruit yellows as it ripens, and should be eaten when yellow and fragrant, but before the tips of the wings turn brown.

150g raw caster sugar
150g butter (soft)
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 free-range eggs
1 tbsp lemon rind finely grated
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bi-carb soda
200g self raising flour
85g shredded coconut
3 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp caster sugar (in addition to the above)
1 large or 2 medium sized carambola, cut into 5mm thick ‘star shaped’ slices

Preheat the oven to 180C and grease and flour a round 21cm springform tin.
Whip the butter and sugar until white and fluffy, it should resemble thick cream. Add vanilla and eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. When combined add lemon rind and fold through.
In a large bowl place the flour, baking powder, coconut and stir to combine. Add one third of the flour mixture to the butter and egg mixture and fold through carefully. Add the rest of the flour mixture and lemon juice and fold until just combined.

In the base of your tin sprinkle the tablespoon of caster sugar and over this, arrange the carambola until there is little to no space left uncovered. Spoon the batter into your cake tin, spreading carefully and place in your preheated oven.

Bake the cake for 40 mins or until a skewer placed in the centre of the cake comes out clean. Leave until cool to the touch and then remove from tin to cool completely. An easy way to get the cake out, is the take off the sides of the tin (run a knife around the edge of the tin before you unlock the springform) place a plate on the top of the cake, and flip the cake over onto the plate. Do this quickly and with confidence. Then carefully remove the springform base. The carambola will be on the base of the cake in a pretty pattern, which is now your ‘top’.