When I think about fresh produce in Western Australia my thoughts immediately centre on the South West region. It’s where I’ve lived and worked most of my adult life however this small part of such an enormous state also has so many culinary riches far further afield. The Kimberley region is vast and remote. Native and cultivated foods are plenty and diverse. This cake recipe came of out some research on both. Sorghum, chia and bananas are grown in the Ord River agricultural area. Wattleseed is gathered and commercially sold and from the south, the wonderfully fragrant Block 275 cold-pressed canola oil. As sorghum is gluten free, this cake has a very tender delicate crumb; the chia and egg binding the mixture together in the absence of gluten. It’s dark and deeply rich in flavour with a light ‘seedy’ crunch from the chia. A West Australian twist on a ubiquitous old favourite.
Ingredients
3 sml – med ripe bananas
200 g sorghum flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
3 tbsp chia seeds
1 + ½ tsp ground roasted wattleseed
8 tbsp cold-pressed canola oil
80 g + 1 tbsp soft brown or rapadura sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
Method
- Preheat oven to 180˚c and line a medium loaf tin with baking paper.
- Peel and roughly mash the bananas.
- Combine the sorghum flour, bicarb soda, baking powder, salt, chia seeds and 1 tsp ground roasted wattleseed in a medium bowl.
- Whisk the eggs and vanilla extract together with 80 g soft brown sugar until combined before whisking in the canola oil.
- Which the egg mixture into the dry ingredients until smooth. There’s still be a few small lumps of banana.
- Scrap into the prepared loaf tin. Evenly sprinkle the remaining tablespoon of soft brown sugar and ground roasted wattleseed over the top of the batter.
- Bake for 35 – 40 minutes until a skewer comes away clean when inserted into the centre.
- Leave to cool on a cooling rack.
