My Favourite Plum Cake Recipe

Jerome and I had a fantastic time at a classic car show in lovely Martinborough. Along the way we picked up some delicious Omega plums, one of my favourites with their sweet red juicy flesh. There was one thing left to do… make a plum cake! 

Here’s a recipe from my friend Anya for the perfect Valentine’s Day Upside-Down Plum Cake—sweet, juicy and the perfect way to celebrate with someone special. WARNING It is absolutely delicious!

Upside-down Plum Cake Ingredients:

• 175g butter, at room temperature
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 800g firm plums, halved, stones removed
• 1 cup caster sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 3 eggs, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup almond meal (ground almonds)
• 1 1/2 cups self-raising flour, sifted
• Vanilla ice-cream or whipped cream, to serve

Method:

Preheat oven to 180C. Grease a 6cm-deep, 24cm (base) round cake pan. Line base with baking paper.
Melt 50g of the butter. Drizzle evenly over base of pan. Sprinkle with brown sugar. Place plums, skin side down, in pan to cover base.
Using electric beaters, beat remaining 125g butter, caster sugar and vanilla on high speed for 4 to 5 minutes or until pale and creamy.
Add eggs, l at a time, beating well after each addition.
Using a large metal spoon, gently fold in almond meal and flour. Spoon mixture over plums. Smooth surface.
Bake cake for 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.Stand cake in pan for 10 minutes. Turn out onto a serving plate. Serve with ice-cream.
 

Hints:
I love to use the ‘If you care’ baking paper. I use loads of it as it saves cleaning!
Use Almond meal as it is so much cheaper than the small packets of ground almonds. You do have to buy a large bag, store it in the freezer to keep fresh.