Locavore Cake

It was summer, and a crew was painting the outside of our condominium building. The workmen had run steel cables from the ground to the penthouse, and on mornings when the tradewinds let up, honeybees, gray moths, and, once, a dragonfly rested briefly on the cable outside our 34^th floor lanai. About the same time, friends were coming to Saturday lunch. One of them, a free-lance writer, was halfway through an eating-local challenge for a magazine article, and her diet was limited to foods grown in the Hawaiian Islands. What to feed her? Not rice, not bread, not pasta…

I had fresh tomatoes and basil from the farmers’ market, macadamia nut oil, and limes, as well as locally made and sourced yogurt cheese, but I was stumped for something to round out the meal. Then another friend’s recipe for a Middle Eastern cake made with ground almonds, boiled oranges, and eggs came to mind. I substituted mac nuts for the almonds and pineapple for the oranges; used local eggs, sugar, and salt; and topped the cake with fresh papaya, lychee, and banana. So that was our locavore lunch--probably not a perfectly balanced meal, but as close as I could get.

To make the cake, you need 2 cups chopped pineapple, 6 eggs, 1 ½ cups ground macadamia nuts, 1 cup sugar, a pinch of salt, a squeeze of lime (optional), and a tablespoon of macadamia nut oil (optional).

Boil the pineapple in water for 15 minutes, drain, and set aside to cool. After it’s cooled, puree the pineapple in a blender or food processor. Separate the eggs and set aside the whites. Beat the yolks until thick, then add the pureed pineapple, ground macadamia nuts, sugar, salt, and, if using, optional squeeze of lime and macadamia nut oil. Mix well. Beat the egg whites until stiff, then fold them into the batter. Put the batter into a oiled springform pan lined with oiled parchment paper. Bake at 400 degrees Farenheit for 35 to 45 minutes. Remove the cake from the pan, leaving the parchment paper on. Let the cake cool on a rack before removing paper. Serve with fresh fruit and whipped cream.

Here are most of the ingredients for the cake:

The cake just out of the pan (it tends to subside a little as it cools):

And with fresh sliced bananas, mangos, and lychees on top: