Of all the stone fruit, plums are the ones most likely to find their way into baking in my kitchen. They are the last of the stone fruit, signifying the end of sunny days. As the days become cooler and the nights draw in, the last of the plums go on sale and offer one more taste of summer. This year I made plum cake with a quince jelly glaze.
I made changes: less eggs, some wholemeal flour and substituted brown sugar for castor sugar. I found myself searching for substitutes as I wanted less eggs and didn't have enough butter. I used some yoghurt, some linseeds and some extra baking powder to replace the egg and some more yoghurt instead of some of the butter. Then I discovered I had misread the oven temperature too and baked it at 160 C instead of 180 C.
It wasn't quite as yellow as Celia's cake but it was a lovely cake to eat with a cuppa on a blustery autumn day. I had plenty more plums left and made chutney with them. Then I regretted that there were no more plums until next summer. I will miss them.
More plum recipes from Green Gourmet Giraffe:
Plum almond tart
Plum and cinnamon oat slice
Plum gingerbread sponge pudding
Plum kuchen
Plums and raspberry jam
More plum recipes from elsewhere:
Plum, marzipan and cinnamon muffins - Eats Well With Others
Plum pie - Nigel Slater in the Guardian
Plum and poppy seed muffins - Where's the Beef?
Rustic plum and lavender galette - Cook Eat Live Vegetarian
Walnut and spiced plum Christmas cob - The Vegetarian Society, UK
Plum teacake with quince jelly glaze
Adapted from Fig Jam and Lime Cordial
150g margarine or butter, softened
200g brown sugar
150g Greek yoghurt
3 eggs
150g self-raising flour (I used half wholemeal)
150g almond meal
1 tbsp ground linseeds (flaxseeds)
1/2 tsp baking powder
4 (350g) plums, sliced into thin wedges
2 generous tbsp quince jelly
Grease and line a lamington tin (13 x 9 inch). Preheat oven to 160 C. Cream butter and sugar. Beat in eggs. Gently stir in yoghurt, flour, almond meal, linseeds and baking powder. Scrape into prepared lamington tin. Arrange plum slices on top of the cake batter. Generously brush the quince jelly over the plum slices. Bake for about 50 minutes or until golden brown and a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool in the tin. Keep in an airtight container for three to five days.
On the Stereo:
Nikki-Nack: Tune-Yards
I love how this is a transition cake for you from summer to fall since plums are a late summer fruit and quince is early fall! It's just stunning.
ReplyDeleteThanks Joanne - transition cake is such a great way to describe this cake
DeleteThis is so pretty!
ReplyDeleteWow this looks good, thanks for the recipe
ReplyDeletebeautiful! Plums are always one of those things where I mean to do something every year (like strawberry picking) but miss it!
ReplyDeleteThanks Faye - I never do as much with them as I intend
DeleteHave I missed plums completely this year? We didn't buy many alas :(
ReplyDeleteThanks Lorraine - I think it is over - we didn't stew as many as last year - alas!
DeleteYour cake looks really good. I'm afraid I didn't make the most of plum season. I do like the sound of your plum chutney xx
ReplyDeleteThanks Charlie - the plum chutney was a bit of a disaster but hopefully will taste good (despite E's best efforts to sully the sterilised jars as I was about to fill them)
DeleteOh, delicious. I love plums fresh but they do have something special in cakes. The quince jelly is a nice touch too!
ReplyDeleteThanks Kari - I am more wary of fresh plums than other stone fruit that I love fresh - sometimes I love plums fresh and other times I am too fussy to get them at the right ripeness
Deleteit looks wonderful, I love plum in cakes!
ReplyDeleteOoh looks delicious! I made many plum cake variations with the bounty from our tree, and a plum and custard slice that I still have not gotten around to sharing. I can't wait for next season now! I especially like the idea of yoghurt - I have been making a few yoghurt cakes lately - I forgot how good they really are.
ReplyDeleteThanks Caeli - you are so lucky to have a plum tree - I don't think plum season has ever been the same without my mum's blood plum tree - plum and custard slice sounds great and yep yoghurt is great in cakes
DeleteI absolutely adore fruit cakes. There's just something so lovely about having a slice of fruit cake with a cuppa in the afternoon. I'll definitely be trying this recipe!
ReplyDeleteThanks Lucy - cake and a cuppa in the afternoon is something my soul wishes for more but my hips aren't so sure :-)
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