I have a surplus of fruit

If you have too much sweet, fresh produce in your garden, preservation is key.

Now that we have 60 fruit trees to call our own, preserving has taken on a whole new meaning. I’ve whipped up green cabbage and kale sauerkraut, Asian plum sauce, and plum and apple chutney.

As the feijoas and apples come on, I’m looking forward to making apple and feijoa cider, and feijoa and cardamom chutney (one of my favourites).

The last of our plums were lovingly turned into this plum spice cake, which is wonderfully dense and spicy, pairing perfectly with the plum and dark chocolate.

The rhubarb and raspberry ice blocks blush the prettiest deep pink and are just the thing to quench the thirst on a summer day.

Plum spice cake

Makes 1 cake Preparation: 15 minutes Cooking: 55 minutes

4 plums ⁄ cup/50g cacao nibs 1 teaspoon caraway seeds 10 cardamom pods, seeds removed 1 cinnamon stick 2 cups/300g almonds ⁄ teaspoon sea salt 150g butter, melted, cooled

cup maple syrup 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 5 eggs, lightly beaten 100g good quality dark chocolate, roughly chopped

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius, and grease a 20cm loosebottomed cake tin.

Cut the plums into eighths and arrange in concentric circles in the bottom of the cake tin. Put the caraway seeds, cardamom pods, and cinnamon stick into a spice/ coffee grinder and grind until a powder is formed. Tip out and set aside. Now grind the cacao nibs in the same way.

Put the almonds into a food processor and grind until a coarse flour is formed.

Add the cacao nibs, spices and salt, and pulse until combined. Whisk together the butter, maple syrup, vanilla, and eggs, add to the dry ingredients and process until combined. Sprinkle half the chocolate over the plums then pour over half the cake batter. Sprinkle the remaining chocolate before pouring over the remaining batter.

Put in the oven and bake for 55 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.

Once cool remove from the tin and serve with thick Greek yoghurt.

Makes 10 ice blocks Preparation: 15 minutes Cooking: 10 minutes

500g rhubarb 1 cup raspberries Juice 1 lemon 200g honey 2 teaspoons rosewater (optional)

Cut the rhubarb into pieces and put into a pot along with the raspberries and 500ml water. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat, then simmer for five minutes.

Remove from the heat the stir in the lemon juice, honey, and rosewater if using. Divide between 10 ice block moulds and freeze overnight. Enjoy in the sunshine!

Recipes, food styling and photography by Emma Boyd