Oh, wouldn't it be nice to have a house with fruit trees in the yard? It always seems that way to those of us without fruit trees. But people with an acre full of cherries, apricots, peaches and plums are familiar with the panicky feeling***image1*** that comes when those trees are so heavily laden with fruit that the branches snap and, honestly, they just couldn't bear to eat another Bing cherry. That's when giant, heaping bowls of stone fruit spontaneously appear on conference room tables and friends push you out the door after dinner with bags full of their fragrant bounty.
That's all well and good until you get home with 6 pounds of plums and you suddenly realize: What am I gonna do with all this stuff? Peaches are easy. You can make pie, jam, ice cream, almost anything. Apricots are a little more difficult; my apricot jam never seems to jell and then I'm stuck with 12 jars of apricot "sauce." Pretty soon folks start to revolt against that awesome apricot sauce I've been pouring all over their pancakes.
Plums present a particular challenge to a creative cook. Much of the fruit's flavor is derived from the thin skin, which has a sort of sweet yet tart and wild flavor-almost like a Concord grape. Underripe plums are so tart, they make your mouth pucker. Overripe plums get bland. Somewhere in the middle, plums can be very, very good for a few things and perfect for one: plum cake.
I guess I'm going to have to confess that I don't really like plums. What can I say? I'm a peach girl. When I was a kid I'd eat all of the other fruit from the bowl before I'd touch the big red and purple plums. But when Mom found small Italian prune plums in the market, she'd always buy a dozen or so-enough to make a plum cake. That, I could sink my teeth into.
Memories of that plum cake came flooding back one day last week when I discovered a plastic tub full of tiny plums from a co-worker's tree. I begged her to bring more just so I could make this cake. Cooking plums concentrates their watery interior and mellows the harshness of their skins. And Italian prune plums-the variety that is most often dried into prunes-are perfect for baking. You can use any kind of small plum for this cake, but the prune plums (or those tiny little plums most of us get on our under-watered trees) work well, too.
I always thought this cake was some sort of cherished family recipe, the original copy written with a fountain pen on thick paper in looping, splotchy script. But no, it turns out Italian plum cake is a classic. Do a Google search and you'll find a million similar versions. Oh, well. This is my version and I personally guarantee it is better than any other Italian plum cake anywhere, ever. At least that's the story you can tell your kids.
Plum Cake
Look for Italian prune plums or other small plums at the farmers market, or just ask your friends and neighbors. Somebody's sure to unload a bowlful on you. The cake is just as good made with any other stone fruit, although you may want to slice big peaches into smaller pieces. Serve the cake warm, with lightly sweetened whipped cream or some of Tara's Organic cardamom-flavored ice cream. (Get the cardamom flavor at her shop: 1807 Second St., Suite 32, 216-9759.) I've already adjusted the baking powder for altitude, so don't mess with it.
- Pam, Baker's Joy or 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- ¾ cup sugar
- 1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ¾ teaspoon baking powder
- 1⁄8 teaspoon coarse salt
- 2 large eggs
- 8-12 small plums, pitted and halved
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- Whipped cream
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Prepare a 10-inch springform pan by spraying it liberally with baking spray or by rubbing the interior surfaces with unsalted butter.
Use an electric mixer (or your own brute strength) to cream together the butter and sugar. Slowly add the flour, baking powder and salt. Beat in the eggs and mix until combined.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Gently place the plum halves on top of the batter, cut-side-up. In a small bowl, stir together the cinnamon and sugar, then sprinkle the mixture over the plums and batter.
Put the cake in the oven and bake for about 45 minutes, until a toothpick or bamboo skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
Remove the cake from the oven and allow it to cool for 10 minutes before removing it from the pan.
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