Eativity celebrates summer produce

Summer is a time for good friends and great food. Here in Australia, we’re blessed with so much top-quality produce, and we think that’s worth celebrating. So, over the holiday season, we’ll be sharing with you some fresh food facts about our favourite Aussie summer produce, along with delicious ideas on how to make the most of it.

Choosing Australian supports our growers, farmers and fishers, while buying local, in-season produce ensures that you’re getting the freshest, most nutritious options available. Locally sourced food is also kinder to the environment, as it requires fewer food miles.

Loving it local

Your best option is to head to your local farmers’ market, where you’ll not only find hyperlocal produce that’s bursting with freshness; you’ll also get to meet the producer who grew, raised or made the food you’re buying. You’ll never find that in a soulless supermarket aisle. It’s also a great way to reconnect with your food supply and get you and your family thinking about where your food comes from and how it’s produced. To find your local farmers’ market, head to the Australian Farmers’ Markets Association website.

Whether you’re whipping up a seafood feast, planning a barbie or just looking for a fresh fruit treat, over the next two weeks, we’ll be bringing you the very best of Aussie summer produce. To kick things off, here’s a show-stopping watermelon cake that’ll make the perfect centrepiece for any summer spread. Watermelons are in peak season right now, so you’ll have the very best Aussie melons at hand to make this masterpiece. It’s topped with in-season berries and stone fruit, along with a white chocolate touch for extra wow factor.

Watermelon cake

Recipe courtesy of Harris Farm Markets

You’ll need:

125g white chocolate
1 watermelon
1 punnet strawberries
½ punnet blueberries
½ punnet raspberries
3 yellow peaches
Handful of cherries

Method:

1. Melt the white chocolate over a double boiler. Once it’s melted, spread it out with a spatula onto a flat baking tray lined with baking paper. Allow the chocolate to cool completely before carefully cutting out the star shapes using cookie cutters.

2. Using a large knife, slice off the top and bottom of the watermelon so it sits flat on a chopping board. Slice the sides off evenly so it resembles a round cylinder shape and no white of the watermelon rind is showing. Keep any cut-off scraps to make watermelon juice or pop it in the freezer to make a spritz at a later time.

3. Slice the cylinder into 4cm wide discs, depending on the size of your watermelon. You should end up with 3 or 4 discs.

4. Lay the most level watermelon disc first onto a flat serving plate. Place 3 level pieces of the left-over watermelon skin roughly 2-3cm wide to allow for a 1cm gap when you lay the next disc on top. This also helps to ensure the cake is level.

5. Place the second disc on top and repeat the process.

6. Slice the strawberries and peaches. Stick the slices alternately in the gap between the watermelon discs, poking outwards. Add blueberries in between each slice.

7. Cover the top of the cake with piled-up whole strawberries, raspberries, cherries, peach slices and a good handful of blueberries. Poke the white chocolate stars in between fruit.

Check in with us each weekday over the next fortnight for more summer produce inspiration. You can also sign up for our weekly newsletter in the box below. Or follow us on Facebook and Instagram. Here at Eativity, we’re all about supporting our local producers, and we just love to share their good news stories with food lovers like you.