Plum and almond cake

 plum and almond cake

A  very kind friend of mine with an orchard and a surplus of plums donated a few kilos of them to me recently. We ate quite a few of them straight out of the bag as they were so delicious, but I’ve also used some to make this lovely cake. The inspiration came from Nigel Slater , although I slightly adapted his original recipe. I didn’t add any walnuts to the mixture, for example, which he does. What is particularly nice about it is the tanginess of the plums in combination with the sweetness of the almonds. My husband took it to a fellow group of volunteers and it pretty much vanished amongst lip smacking sounds of appreciation. I’d like to add that apparently the store bought butterfly cakes that someone else brought in weren’t even touched. Home made wins every time, it would seem!…:-)

INGREDIENTS

150g butter 1

150g unrefined golden caster sugar

10-12 largeish ripe plums (Nigel uses 16 which seems slightly excessive to me), quartered

3 large eggs

75g self raising flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

100g ground almonds

METHOD

Set the oven at 180C/gas mark 4. Line the base of a 22cm cake tin with baking parchment.

Beat the butter and sugar until it is pale and fluffy.  Meanwhile, halve the plums, remove the stones, then cut each half in two.

Break the eggs, beat lightly with a fork, then add them bit by bit to the butter and sugar. Sift the four and baking powder together and fold them gently into the mixture.  Fold in the ground almonds.

Scrape the mixture into the cake tin. Place the quartered plums on the cake mixture. Press them in slightly. Bake for 40-45 minutes, then test with a skewer. If it comes out clean, the cake is ready. Remove from the oven and leave to cool for 15 minutes before turning out.

Dust with icing sugar on the top if you wish.

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