Frank Camorra's 'Queensland Cake'

A friend of mine grew up in Queensland and had macadamia trees growing around the house. Their deep emerald-green leaves have spikes down the side, which caught on his feet while running around the yard. The hard brown nuts the trees produced - which he called Queensland nuts - were his main form of pocket money. He got $10 a kilo from the local deli - not bad for a seven-year-old.

On a commercial scale, Australia and Hawaii are the two largest producers of macadamia nuts.

Of the nine species, seven are native to Australia and only two are edible.

The sweet, sour and salty flavours of this prawn recipe are a perfect addition to the summer barbecue. If you don't eat prawns you could replace them with scallops or salmon.

I've named this cake because it uses so many fantastic products found in Queensland - ginger from Buderim, brown sugar, coconut and macadamia nuts (the ones I use come from Bundaberg).

Queensland cake

100g unsalted butter, melted, plus extra for cake tin

200g plain flour, plus extra for cake tin

100g unsalted macadamia nuts

175g soft dark brown sugar

3 medium eggs

150g cream

125g crystallised ginger, chopped

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground cinnamon

Icing

195g pure icing sugar

1 tbsp cocoa powder

20g soft butter

100g desiccated coconut

Preheat the oven to 150C. Brush a 24-centimetre round tin with some melted butter, spoon in a little flour, shake it evenly around and bang out any excess.

Lightly toast the macadamia nuts in the oven until golden, then leave them to cool, chop roughly and set aside.

Beat the remaining melted butter with the brown sugar until smooth, then beat in the eggs and cream. Stir in the chopped ginger and macadamia nuts, sift in the remaining flour, add the baking powder, ground ginger and cinnamon, stir and then spoon into the tin.

Bake for about 45 minutes or until a skewer poked in comes out clean. Cool slightly, then remove from tin and cool on a wire rack. For icing, sift icing sugar and cocoa into a bowl, then add butter and 2 tablespoons of hot water and mix well until smooth.

When cake is cool, cover with icing and dust with coconut while icing is still wet.

Serves 8

Grilled prawns with macadamia, lime and peach

24 large Australian prawns

3 ripe yellow peaches

4 tbsp lime juice

1 tbsp fish sauce

1 red chilli, deseeded and finely diced

10 mint leaves, chopped

1 tbsp chopped chives

70g macadamia nuts, toasted

Watercress sprigs

Peel the prawns, leaving the head and tail intact, and remove the line from the back of the prawn with a knife.

Dice the peaches into 1-centimetre pieces and place in a bowl with the lime juice, fish sauce, chilli and herbs. Chop the macadamia nuts roughly and add to the peach mixture.

Place the prawns on a pre-heated grill and cook for about 3 minutes on each side. Place 4 prawns on a serving plate, randomly place watercress sprigs around the prawns, then spoon small amounts of the peach mixture over the prawns. Serve immediately.

Serves 6