a glorious plum cake - with real plums!

fabulous plum cake!

It is one of those quirks of the English and of British food, that often when you see a recipe entitled "plum cake" or "plum pudding" - it doesn't contain any plums at all; this is a catch-all name which refers to all sorts of preserved fruits used in baking in earlier centuries.

But I right now I am a plum obsessive. It is the season, after all.  There is something rather beautiful and beguiling about all the plums boxed up at the market, from bright green greengages, deep red Presidents and pale purple Victorias. But like his Royal Greediness, I do not discriminate, I was just in the mood for baking a cake that was full of fresh, ripe and juicy plums.

Skill level: Easy

ingredients:
3 x large eggs (mine weighed 190g), lightly beaten
190g plain flour, sifted
2 tsp baking powder, sifted
190g butter, at room temperature (plus a little more for greasing the tin)
250g vanilla caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
500g plums, stoned and quartered
topping
90g soft brown sugar
90g plain flour
100g unsalted butter

directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C / Gas Mark 4.
2. Grease and line a suitable tin (about 25cm).
3. Weigh the eggs and then use comparable amounts of plain flour and butter.
4. Cream the butter and sugar together until creamy and pale.
5. Add the beaten eggs in 3 batches, beating in between each addition.
6. Add the vanilla extract and beat.
7. Fold in the flour and baking powder, ensuring that you don't knock out too much of the air. (Use a large metal spoon to do this rather than a wooden spoon).
8. Pour into the prepared tin and smooth over the top.
9. Cover with the plums. Place them evenly around the outside of the tin, and then fill the inside with the remainder of the plums.
10. Combine the topping ingredients until you have a light crumble mixture, and sprinkle over the plums.
11. Bake in the middle of the oven for about 50 minutes to 1 hour.
12. Cool in the tin for 15 minutes, before turning out onto a cooling rack.