Plum Cake





Cooking Light Magazine, July 2011, photo by Anna Williams

  

Here I've gone and posted a plum recipe and plums are not my favorite fruit.  I'm a berries person.  Blueberry pie, strawberries and cream and raspberry sorbet are my go-to summer desserts.  But this Plum Cake in Cooking Light magazine dazzled me.  It looked sweet and dense, but not too sweet and certainly buttery from the look of the cake. And it was Cooking Light magazine.  It's as if they were saying sure, go ahead. It's okay to make a decadent looking cake.  I was intrigued.  And you know what?  It's a fabulous dessert. I made the cake on a whim for a pot luck party and fretted afterward about whether or not it would taste good.  Fortunately, the cake was a hit and requests for the recipe went around the room.  I thought you'd enjoy it too.

The only thing I'd perhaps do differently is double the recipe for the cake base, but it's wonderful too as is.  Also, the recipe makes a lot of the sugar topping and you may not want to use all of it. I did and thought the cake would be too sweet, but the sugar nicely balances the tart plums.

Plum Cake (Kuchen)

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar, divided

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

3/8 teaspoons salt, divided

1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom

7 tablespoons butter, divided

1/2 cup fat free milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 large egg

Cooking spray

1 1/2 pounds plums (any color / variety), quartered and pitted

1 teaspoon grated lemon rind

1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
Lightly sweetened whipped cream (optional, my choice)

1. Preheat over to 425 degrees

2. Weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife.  Combine flour, 2 tablespoons granulated sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and cardamom in a medium bowl, stirring well with a whisk.  Cut in 4 tablespoons butter with a pastry blender or two knives until mixture resembles coarse meal.

3. Combine milk, vanilla, and egg in a bowl, stirring with a whisk.  Add milk mixture to flour mixture, and stir until just combined.

4. Spoon batter into a 9-inch round metal cake pan coated with cooking spray.  Arrange plums in a circular pattern over batter.

5. Combine remaining 2/3 cup granulated sugar, remaining 1/8 teaspoon salt, lemon rind, and allspice in a small bowl stirring well.  Place remaining 3 tablespoons butter in a microwave-safe bowl.  Microwave at HIGH 30 seconds or until butter melts.  Stir into sugar mixture.  Sprinkle plums evenly with sugar mixture.  Bake at 425 degrees for 35 minutes or until browned and bubbling.  Cool in pan 1 hour on a wire rack.  Cut into wedges and serve with lightly sweetened whipped cream, if desired.  Yield:  10 servings.