Rustic Plum Cake

I just received my new Cook’s Illustrated magazine and was inspired to try this recipe. It was funny because earlier in the day I was talking a walk and noticed a plum tree in the front yard of a house that was vacant and for sale. Well, that led to midnight gardening and I took the liberty of sneaking over there with a bag and collecting plums for this recipe! The next door neighbors came out and said hello to check and see what was going on, so I decided to play dumb and just say hello, how are you guys tonight, they said fine and I kept picking the plums, it was quite hilarious as I don’t think they knew what to do.
The plums that I had were very large regular red plums, not Italian prune plums, so I cut them in 4 pieces instead of halving them. I got rave reviews when I took this to work because the plums are a bit tart and the cake is very moist and sweet. Cheers to midnight gardening!

Rustic Plum Cake

2 Tablespoons Currant or Seedless Raspberry Jam
3 Tablespoons Brandy
1 Pound (10-12) Italian Prune Plums, halved and pitted
3/4 Cup Unbleached Flour, plus extra for dusting the pan
3/4 Cup Sugar
1/3 Cup Slivered Almonds
1/2 Teaspoon Baking Powder
1/4 Teaspoon Salt
6 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter, cut into 6 pieces, softened but still cool
1 Large Egg, Plus 1 Large Yolk, room temperature
1 Teaspoon Vanilla
¼ Teaspoon Almond Extract
Powdered Sugar, for serving

Cook jam and brandy in 10 inch nonstick skillet over medium heat until reduced to thick syrup, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove skillet from heat and place plums cut-side down in syrup. Return skillet to medium heat and cook until plums shed their juices and thick syrup is again formed, about 5 minutes, shaking pan to prevent plums from sticking. Cool plums in pan, about 20 minutes.

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 9 inch springform pan. Process sugar and almonds in food processor until nuts are finely ground, about 1 minute. Add flour baking powder, and salt; pulse to combine. Add butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse sand, about ten 1 second pulses. Add eggs, vanilla, and almond extract and process until smooth, about 5 seconds, scraping bowl once if needed (batter will be very thick and heavy)

Transfer batter to prepared pan; using spatula, spread batter evenly to pan edges and smooth surface. Stir plums to coat with syrup. Arrange plum halves, skin-side down, evenly over surface of batter (pack with fruit, place over entire surface of batter and not touching pan edges). Bake until cake is golden brown and wooden skewer inserted into center comes out with few crumbs attached, 40-50 minutes. Run paring knife around sides of cake to loosen. Cool in pan on wire rack until just warm or to room temperature, at least 30 minutes. Remove cake from pan and dust with powdered sugar. Cut into wedges and serve.

Plum Tatin

Plum Tatin

¾ Stick Unsalted Butter (6 Tablespoons), at room temperature

8-10 Plums, cut in half and pitted

1/3 Cup Water

1 ½ Cups Sugar, divided

2 Eggs

1/3 Cup Sour Cream

1 Teaspoon Vanilla

1 ¼ Cups Flour

½ Teaspoon Baking Powder

½ Teaspoon Salt

Coat glass pie plate with non-stick cooking spray and spread plums cut side down on bottom of dish.Combine water and 1 cup of the sugar in small saucepan, cook over high heat until light amber in color (360 degrees on candy thermometer), do not stir. Pour over the plums.

Cream butter and remaining ½ cups sugar over medium speed until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time and beat over low until just combined. Next add sour cream and vanilla, beat on medium speed until combined.Add Flour, baking powder and salt, beat on low until just combined, do not over-mix.

Spread cake batter evenly over plums and place into pre-heated 350 degree oven.

Bake for 30-40 minutes until toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out clean. Cool 20 minutes, then invert onto serving plate.

*Recipe adapted from "Barefoot In Paris" by Ina Garten