Rustic Plum Cake Recipes

Steps:

• 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°F 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 (if using) 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. Bake until cake is golden brown and wooden skewer inserted into center comes out with few crumbs attached, 40 to 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 confectioners' sugar. Cut into wedges and serve.
• Note:This recipe works best with Italian plums, which are also called prune plums. If substituting regular red or black plums, use an equal weight of plums, cut them into eighths, and stir them a few times while cooking. Arrange slices, slightly overlapped, in two rings over surface of cake. Do not use canned Italian plums. Blanched whole almonds can be used but must be processed 30 seconds longer until finely ground. The brandy can be omitted, but then you will need to melt the jam with 1 tablespoon water before adding the plums. Don't add the leftover plum cooking liquid to the cake before baking; reserve it and serve with the finished cake or over ice cream. The cake can be served with lightly sweetened whipped cream.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease and flour one 9-inch tube pan.
• Separate the eggs. In a small bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form, and set aside.
• In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Beat in the egg yolks and the lemon zest.
• Stir together the flour and baking powder and then blend the flour mixture into the creamed mixture. Gently fold in the egg whites. Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan. There will only be a little over an inch of batter. Arrange the plums, skin side down, attractively over the batter.
• Bake in preheated oven until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean, about 40 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack and allow to cool before serving.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter an 8-by-2-inch or a 9-inch cake pan and line bottom with a round of parchment. In a large bowl, whisk together 1 1/2 cups flour, baking soda, and salt.
• Using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugars until light and fluffy. With mixer on low, beat in eggs, one at a time, until incorporated; beat in vanilla and lemon zest. Beat in half the flour mixture, then sour cream. Add remaining flour mixture; mix just until combined.
• Spread batter into pan and smooth top with a knife. In a bowl, toss plums with 2 tablespoons flour and sprinkle over batter.
• Bake until cake is golden, about 30 minutes; loosely tent with foil and bake until cake pulls away from side of pan and a cake tester inserted in center comes out clean, about 35 minutes more. Let cake cool completely in pan. Run knife around cake edge and remove cake from pan. Dust with confectioners' sugar before serving.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350* F. Place a sheet of parchment paper over the bottom disk of an 8-9 inch spring-form pan. Fasten the ring around the disk with the parchment paper secured in between. Cut off the excess paper. Grease the sides of the pan.
• Whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and ½ teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice.
• In the electric mixer, cream 1 cup of sugar with the butter. Add the eggs one at a time. Slowly add the flour mixture. Scrape the bowl and mix again.
• Spread the batter evenly in the prepared pan.
• Slice the plums into eighths. The easiest way I've found to do this, is to run a knife around the plum to half it, then do the same to quarter it. Split each quarter in half. Then the little sections should pop off the pit with your knife.
• Place the plum slices around the top of the cake in a pretty pattern-make sure they are close together.
• Sprinkle 1 Tb. of sugar and the remaining ¼ tsp of pumpkin pie spice over the plums.
• Bake for 50-55 minutes-until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Make SURE not to over bake! Cool for 15 minutes in the pan, and another 10 minutes out of the pan before serving!
• Serves 8-12.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350*. Thoroughly grease and flour a 9" springform pan. Sift flour with baking powder, baking soda and salt; set aside. Beat butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla with electric mixer on high until light and fluffy (about 5 minutes).
• Reduce mixer speed to low. Alternately add about one-fourth of the flour mixture and one-third of the sour cream, beginning and ending with flour and beating thoroughly after each addition. After all has been added, scrape down sides of bowl and beat 1 minute longer.
• Pour batter into prepared springform pan; spread evenly with rubber spatula. Put pan on center rack in oven and bake for about 50 minutes until cake is golden brown and a cake tester inserted in center of cake comes out clean.
• Meanwhile, make Crumb Topping: Put sugar, flour, butter and cinnamon ina small bowl. Toss lightly with a pastry blender or two forks until mixture is crumbly and the butter is in fine pieces. Set aside.
• Wash plums; dry well. Cut fresh plums in half, remove pits and discard. If using canned plums, drain thoroughly, cut in half and remove pits. Remove cake from oven and sprinkle with crumb topping. Arrange plums on top and bake 10 minutes longer.
• Remove cake from oven and place on wire cake rack to cool for 10 minutes. Loosen cake from sides of pan, using a small knife or long metal spatula. Remove pan sides and brush plums with melted jam. Serve warm.

Steps:

• Make the crust: In a food processor, pulse flour, cornmeal, sugar, and salt several times to combine. Add butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal, with a few pea-size pieces remaining. Add 2 tablespoons ice water; pulse until dough is crumbly but holds together when squeezed. (If needed, add up to 2 tablespoons more ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time.) Do not overmix.
• Turn dough out onto a floured work surface; knead once or twice. Flatten dough into a disk; wrap it in plastic, and refrigerate at least 1 hour.
• Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil. Flour a large (about 16 inches long) piece of parchment paper. Place dough on paper. Using your knuckles, press edges of dough so it doesn't crack during rolling. Lightly flour top of dough to prevent sticking; roll out to a 14-inch round. Transfer dough (still on parchment) to prepared baking sheet.
• Make the filling and bake: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large bowl, toss together plums, sugar, and flour. Mound plum mixture in center of prepared crust, leaving a 2-inch border all around. Fold border over fruit in a pleated pattern. Brush dough with egg wash.
• Bake tart until crust is brown and filling is bubbling (see note), about 45 minutes. Transfer baking sheet to a rack; let cool 20 minutes. Slice and serve warm or at room temperature.

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream the butter, add the sugar, vanilla, egg, lemon peel, sour cream and salt (if desired).
• Mix the flour and baking powder and add that into the mixture.
• Grease the base of a round baking pan and spread the dough over the pan.
• Liberally spread plums over the dough.
• To make the optional topping, cream the butter, add flour, sugar and cinnamon.
• Sprinkle over the plums and bake for 30-45 minutes in the middle rack at 375 F.
• Be careful not to let the bottom burn!
• Serve with lots of freshly-made whipped cream.
• If you like, you may also sprinkle rum or cinnamon over the fruit before baking.