Tamarillo Shortcake

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Ingredients

For the Shortcake

85 g butter
55 g sugar
1 egg
225 g flour
2 tsp baking powder
pinch salt
85 ml milk

For the Filling

450 g tamarillos
150 g brown sugar
40 g desiccated coconut

For the Shortcake

3 oz butter
2 oz sugar
1 egg
8 oz flour
2 tsp baking powder
pinch salt
1/3 cup milk

For the Filling

1 lb tamarillos
¾ cup brown sugar
½ cup desiccated coconut

Tender fruit enclosed between two layers of soft, sweet shortcake - this is another old fashioned favourite and always a welcome pudding. Leftovers can be served cold with a cup of tea the next day. You can vary the fruit and the spices in this recipe, just remember that firm fruit like apples or pears are best cooked and cooled before they go in the cake, whereas feijoas or tamarillos or berries can be put in raw. This recipe is from the 1964 Hataitai Methodist Church Recipe Book, where it is called Tree Tomato Shortcake. The coconut gives the filling a very pleasant texture and a version made with chopped red fleshed plums is worth making.

Getting ready

Preheat the oven to 400ºF/200ºC. Have the butter and egg at room temperature and grease a 9 in/23 cm shallow tin or pie dish. Cut a cross in the base of each tamarillo, drop them into boiling water for about 30 seconds then remove. Pull away the skin and slice them fairly thinly.

Making the Shortcake

Cream the butter and sugar until well combined and beat in the egg. Add the sifted dry ingredients alternately with the milk to make a soft dough.
Divide the dough in half and gently press out one half to line the base of the tin.
Arrange the sliced tamarillos evenly over the shortcake, and follow with the brown sugar and coconut. Roll out the remaining dough and place over the fruit, pressing down gently at the edges. This is a soft dough and if rolling out is too difficult, just arrange spoonfuls of the dough over the filling. They will join up as they cook.
Bake for 30 minutes and serve with custard or whipped cream