Plums II: caking harder ~ Ham Pie Sandwiches

29 June 2012

Plums II: caking harder

plum yogurt cake

After I started my two batches of plum-infused liquor and gave a bunch of the non-liquor-drenched plums away, I still had about 80 plums left. That is, I had 80 left from that one broken branch. I haven't even started harvesting the REST of the tree.

This is one of those times when I really wish I liked jam more. Oh well.

Instead, I decided to bake a plum yogurt cake. I made this almost exactly as written, only substituting wheat flour for all-purpose.

plum yogurt cake batter

Wheaty teacakes with lots of summer stone fruit are a pretty classic choice at our house. This time I crammed in as much fruit as I possibly could: 21 chopped plums in an 8x8 square. I actually threw a bunch of chopped plums into the cake pan before pouring in the batter, and then added even more plums to the top.

plum yogurt cake batter

Notice the abundant plum juice all over the counter.

Plum yogurt cake

1 1/2 c wheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
pinch salt
1 c sugar
1/2 c plain yogurt
3 large eggs
1/2 t vanilla
1/2 c oil
and all the plums you can get your hands on.

Preheat your oven to 350F/175C; oil and flour your cake pan. I used an 8x8 square, but a loaf pan or round 8 or 9-inch pan should also work.

Traditional cake recipes want you to sift all your dry ingredients together in one bowl, mix or cream the wet ingredients in another, and then fold the dry into the wet. I usually go the other direction, so I mixed the sugar, yogurt, eggs and vanilla, stirred in the baking powder and salt, and then added the flour 1/2 c at a time. I added the oil last, per the linked recipe, but I don't see any reason why you couldn't add it to the initial wet mix.

Wash & chop your plums, leaving the skins on. Strew a layer of plum pieces in your prepared pan. Pour your batter evenly into the pan. Then add all the rest of your plums to the top of the batter. I recommend sinking them as much as possible, because poking the fruit down into the batter ensures many, many pockets of delicious plum goo. Just look!

plum yogurt cake

Bake for 45 minutes to an hour, or until the top is golden brown. Test with a toothpick like you'd test any cake.

Cool on a rack in the pan for at least 15-20 minutes before removing. I left my cake in the pan, largely because we're out of parchment paper. Oh no! That's ok, though; it's still delicious cake.

Voila! Cake!

Each piece of plum added a burst of sour flavor from the skin, while the cake provided a medium-sweet backdrop. A not-too-sweet cake you can eat with coffee or for breakfast? Yes, please!

I think this cake is especially good with a whack of plain tart labneh--Middle Eastern strained yogurt--or Greek yogurt on top of each serving. Hey, there's already yogurt in the batter--why not put some more on top? If you are more into the sweet, you could always sift some powdered sugar over the finished cake instead.

plum yogurt cake

Now all I need to do is find something to do with the 60 or so plums we still have chilling on the kitchen counter. I have a feeling more schnapps is in our future.

ETA: Hey, guess what? Noelle just made the same cake, minus plums! Hooray!

10 comments:

noelle said...

haha! It's cakismet! I was also thinking this cake would be good with stone fruit in it, but now I know for sure.

Also 21 plums, that's badass. I wonder how many plums per piece it is.

Eileen said...

Well, we cut it into 16 pieces, so that's 1.3125 plums per piece. But if I'd cut it into only 9 pieces, that would be 2.3 repeating plums per piece!

Caz said...

I love cakes packed full of summer fruit, the more the better. This looks so good and your garden sounds fantastic. I would love to grow fruit trees :)

Joanne said...

Maybe you can pickle some of the plums! I bet they'd be delicious that way.

This cake sounds lovely. The perfect mid-morning treat.

Monet said...

What a good problem to have! And this cake is a great way to use some of those plums. It looks delicious. Thank you for your words, your encouragement, and your prayers. I hope you are having a restful and peaceful Sunday. Love and hugs!

Kat said...

I love fresh plums as they are, so I probably would have eaten about 40 of them and then made cake. I agree, plum cake sounds much better than jam, it looks delicious!

nancy at good food matters said...

This must have been the banner year for plums all over the country. My tree was pulled to the ground, so heavily laden. I wish I had known about your blog while I was still harvesting and processing all that stone fruit! there's always next year...

Shu Han said...

That is just gorgeous. I love the way the plum juices stain everythig a deep dark red. Great job clearing your plums so far, what a delicious problem to have. I might modify that cake recipe for courgettes (totally intrigued by courgette cake, being relatively new to it and am hunting down the perfect recipe for it).

QT said...

Yummy!

Jes said...

Mmm I bet that would have been even better with boozy plums ;) This cake looks awesome--I'm going to have to play around with cornmeal or buckwheat I think!