Spiced Plum Cake Recipe

As promised, here are the results of today’s plum baking experiments.

I  made a plum bread that did not come out well at all. I may try again, but that recipe doesn’t bear posting! The cake, on the other hand, was fabulous. Here’s that recipe:

Spiced plum cake

Spiced plum cake

Butter and white sugar for preparing the pan
4 eggs, separated
1/2 cup of butter, softened
1/3 cup white sugar
1/3 cup + 2 tablespoons brown sugar, divided
Zest of one lemon
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups plums, sliced
Powdered sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 375°F. Grease and sugar a 9″ pie plate or cake pan.

In a small bowl, beat the egg whites to soft peaks. Set aside.

In your mixer’s bowl, cream the butter with the sugars. Add the egg yolks, one at a time until mixed. Add the vanilla and lemon zest.

In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, cloves and cinnamon. Add flour mixture to the butter mixture alternately with the milk.

Fold in the plums and spread into the prepared pan. Arrange the plums on top and bake for 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool for 30 minutes and dust with powdered sugar.

Spiced plum cake

Serves 8.

This was delicious. The tartness of the plums contrasts with the spicy sweetness of the cake. I will definitely be making this again!