Plums are delicious right now, so what’s better than a quick and easy cake adorned with rows of plum halves? And so what that it looks a little like pizza? It certainly doesn’t taste like one.
Plummy season
Plums are a bit of an underdog of the fruit world. Berries reign over late spring and early summer, cherries then turn up and stain everything crimson. But come early autumn, it’s apples, apples, apples everywhere, save for an odd pear.
Plums are somehow overlooked, not often reached for as a snack, never on display in hotel breakfast buffets. Apple crumble is an epic classic while a plum in many people’s mind only belongs in chutney. All very unfair because it is a delightful and very versatile fruit.
It seems to be due to decreased cultivation: berries and cherries are more profitable to grow. Surely that is because of lower demand? However, in the last year or two production has edged upwards, bringing more English plums to market stalls and supermarket shelves.
And a very good thing it is too, because plums are delicious. There is a variety to suit every taste and culinary use. Victoria plums are the most popular, the oblong purple fruits which admittedly go too quickly from rock hard and green to mushy and overripe. Damsons are probably my favourite: properly deep plum colour, firm and tart, they are used in Eastern Europe and Austria in the famous and incredibly laborious preserve called powidl. It is made with just plums, the Damson or prune variety, cooked down over hours or even days into gooey, nearly black pulp which is deliciously sweet without any sugar added.
Other plums worth mentioning are greengages, aka Reine Claude, sweet and quite mushy but excellent in jams and jellies. There is also Mirabelle, sadly not very common in the UK, unlike in France.
Plums in cakes
In baking, plums are best sat on top of a cake base rather than folded into batter and baked. They tend to go mushy and release a lot of juice which would dilute cake batter and cause the cake to collapse.
They work very well in tarts, arranged on top of a shortcrust base or, like in a German and Austrian Kuchen, a sweet yeast-leavened dough layer. This recipe follows the same principle, with tender but thicker sponge batter serving as a display for plums topping it generously.
How to make the cake batter
This is one of the best and easiest kinds of sponge batter, also lighter on calories because instead of a whole pack of butter, it uses a sensible amount of vegetable oil plus plain yoghurt.
And the actual mixing method is the one everybody loves. Dry ingredients, the flour, raising agents, ground almonds, cinnamon and sugar are stirred together in a bowl. The liquid part made up of eggs, a little honey for depth of sweetness, yoghurt and oil, is whisked together in a jug. And then the twain shall meet by way of whisking until smooth batter emerges.
Plums for the cake
I suggest Victoria plums for this recipe as it’s the variety everyone likes. Though if you can get hold of a large bag of Damsons, I wholeheartedly recommend using those.
Either way, best if they are ripe so the stones can be easily extracted when a plum is halved lengthwise. If you bake your cake in a square 20 cm tin, like here, you’ll need between 8 and 12 plums, depending on their size. They should be arranged cut side up, otherwise the juices will seep down and ruin the sponge.
Cinnamon is a must
Plums can’t be without cinnamon, copiously. After arranging the halves, shower them with cinnamon. If you like, you can sprinkle some pearl or demerara sugar on as well but in my view the cake will be plenty sweet as it is.
And if your preference is for cardamom, cloves, mixed spice or another fragrant flavouring as well as or instead of cinnamon, that’s very well too.
Baking will take about forty minutes, until a skewer test is passed. It might take a tad longer if the plums are very juicy – when ready, the cake surface should not be excessively wet.
It’s definitely the nicest barely warm, but any leftovers kept in the fridge will be also good following couple of days.
More plum recipes
Plum crumble breakfast bars, cinnamon flavoured, reduced in sugar content, are just the thing for those whose sweet tooth is awake at breakfast time.
Soft and rich brioche base with plum and cinnamon crumble topping. It means brioche is not just for breakfast. It means turning bread into cake!
Best red wine braised short ribs of beef with plum sauce, sweet and tender, called Obama’s short ribs, after the dish served to Barack Obama in a Harlem restaurant.
More autumnal cake recipes
Honey cake with dates and apples from Nigella Lawson’s collection is not only suitable for Rosh Hashanah: it’s simply the perfect autumnal cake.
Sticky pear and ginger cake is dark, moist and incredibly easy to make. With juicy chunks of pears and crunchy pecans scattered over the sticky syrupy surface, it’s the perfect autumn dessert.
Norwegian apple cake, eplekake, is plenty of apple slices on sponge batter enriched with milk. This recipe is from New York Times but cross-referenced with Norway!