The addition of wattle seed in ice cream gives a rich coffee-like flavour that pairs perfectly with quandongs.

Recipe Nicola Palmer | Photographs Sarah Long

Quandong and wattle seed cake with wattle seed ice cream

60g unsalted butter
380g brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
300g plain flour
¼ tsp wattle seed, ground
1 tsp salt
500g quandong
rind from 1 lemon
250g yoghurt
1 tsp bicarb soda

topping
80g brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon powder
1 tsp wattle seed, ground

ice cream
6 egg yolks
200g caster sugar
500ml full cream milk
250m cream
¼ tsp vanilla bean paste
70g wattle seed powder

Pre-heat oven to 180C. Line a 22cm square baking tin with baking paper.

For the cake, cream the butter and sugar in a mixer until light and creamy. Add the eggs and flour, then all the other ingredients, except the quandongs. Mix until smooth. Lastly stir in the quandongs by hand. Gently pour the mixture into the lined tin. Level out gently with a spatula. Sprinkle the topping mix over the surface. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until skewer comes out clean.

For the ice cream, put milk, cream, wattle seed, vanilla and half the sugar in a heavy-bottomed pot. While stirring, warm on the stove to around 60 degrees or until steam starts to rise. When this point has been reached, put the egg yolks and the rest of the sugar into the mixer and whisk until thick and the mixture leaves a trail or ribbon on the surface. (Only whisk sugar and yolks together when the milk mix is ready, otherwise the sugar will start to cook the yolks.)

With the mixer running, put one ladle of the warm milk mix in at a time. Once a few ladles have gone into the mixing bowl, stop the mixer and add the contents back into the pot. Stir to combine. Put the pot back on a low heat and stir constantly until the mix coats the back of the spoon or 80 degrees if you have a temperature probe. You can do this process over a double boiler if you prefer. Chill and then put in an ice cream machine.

Alternatively, a really nice bought vanilla bean ice cream would do, softened slightly and wattle seed powder stirred through.

To serve, cut cake into squares and place a quenelle of ice cream on top of each piece.