What to do with a plethora of plums?
And a plethora of plums that won’t stop coming.
Most of the time it’s zucchini or eggplant people complain about when they have a CSA.
We thought a fruit share sounded like a good idea, but knew eight pounds of fruit a week would be too much so decided to share it with friends.
It’s still too much, and we’re not eating enough of it so the Accidental Locavore is trying to figure out what to do with it all (and in ways that don’t necessarily involve desserts).
But this one does.
Billed as the most requested recipe from the NY Times, they refer to it as a Plum Torte, but it’s more like a cake (IMHO).
Plum Cake Recipe
Serves 8.
- ¾ to 1 cup sugar (depending on your sweetness tolerance and the sweetness of your plums)
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup unbleached flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- Pinch of salt (optional)
- 2 eggs
- 24 halves pitted purple plums
- Sugar, lemon juice and cinnamon, for topping
Heat oven to 350°.
In a mixer, cream the sugar and butter.
Add the flour, baking powder, salt and eggs and beat well.
Spoon the batter into a 9″ spring-form pan. Place the plum halves skin side up on top of the batter.
Sprinkle lightly with sugar and lemon juice, depending on the sweetness of the fruit.
Sprinkle with about 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, depending on how much you like cinnamon.
Bake 1 hour, approximately. Remove and cool; refrigerate or freeze if desired. Or cool to lukewarm and serve plain or with whipped cream. Serve and enjoy!
My verdict:
Moist and buttery — well there was a stick of butter…
Make sure to add the sugar, lemon juice and cinnamon to top it off. Just go easy on the cinnamon unless you’re a big fan (I’ve learned the hard way that a little cinnamon goes a long way!).
The plums give a nice tartness to what is a rich treat, but as the Times says, you can use almost anything; I’m going to do it with peaches and then maybe apples.
While it’s a great dessert, it’s also a pretty fine breakfast!
My only issue was that my (cheap)spring-form pan leaked and I ended up putting a parchment-lined baking sheet under it to catch the drips. Not sure you need a spring-form, just butter any sort of cake pan (or buy a better spring-form).
The paper of record says you can freeze it, and to serve a torte that was frozen, defrost and reheat it briefly at 300°.
