When I was a little girl, my first swim lessons came from my Mom. She taught me a lovely, languid side stroke by showing the stroke’s motion as she sang an old folk tune: “Pickin’ up paw paws, put ‘em in your pocket, pickin’ up paw paws, put’ em in your pocket.” With each phrase, her arm stretched to “pluck” and then to “tuck” in perfect harmony with the stroke.
It would be years before I actually ate a paw paw, those custardy banana/mango-like fruits native to much of the Eastern United States. I wish I’d done so sooner—they are delicious! Paw paws grow wild in our forests, and farmers markets sell them from late-August through to first frost. But because they are hard to store and ship, you won’t find them in grocery stores. Luckily for our family, a neighbor has cultivated a paw paw tree right in her front yard and shares the bounty.
Paw paws are best eaten when fragrant and fully ripe. It’s important to carefully remove and discard the skins, which are bitter, and the seeds, which are poisonous. That done, you’ll have a bowl full of bright yellow custard-like fruit flesh. Some like to whirl the fruit into ice cream, but we enjoy it in this cake. Standing tall with two moist layers and an old-fashioned boiled frosting (light, fluffy and less sugary than buttercream) it makes the most of this indigenous American–but very tropical-tasting, fruit. I’ve topped the cake with tart-sweet little cape gooseberries (also known as goldenberries or groundcherries) and a swirl of paw paw puree. Continue Reading…
