It's raining peaches and nectarines and plums these days. Having a few of the latter on hand, and some ground almonds, I decided to make a little afternoon cake. Delicious: moist, fruity, fragrant, tender. I highly recommend. And it dirties only one bowl and one pan, because who wants to make elaborate things and clean up lots of stuff in August? Yeah, me too.
I've made this twice, with all kinds of plums. For the version in the photos, I used some large halved plums (visible), some small halved plums (swallowed up by the batter), and some slices of large plums (also swallowed up by the batter). Anything will work; if the fruit gets engulfed by the batter, it just forms a juicy, colorful surprise in the middle of the cake. Other kinds of fruit would probably work too, although there's something really nice about the way plums retain their tartness even when they become incredibly sweet. The plums don't need to be fully ripe.
Almond plum cake (loosely adapted from
this recipe)
1/2 cup almond flour (I used Trader Joe's)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
pinch of salt
4 tbsp. butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar (I used evaporated cane juice*)
2 large humane eggs**
1/2 tsp. almond extract
plums, of any kind, neither rock hard nor overly soft
Preheat the oven to 350º with a rack in the middle. In a medium bowl, beat the butter with the sugar until fluffy, a few minutes. It will still look quite granulated. Add the eggs one at a time and beat well, then add the extract (you can use vanilla if you don't have almond extract, or just leave it out entirely).
Into the bowl, sift the dry ingredients. I do this by setting a strainer over the bowl, adding the flours, baking powder, and salt to the strainer, tapping it to sift everything into the bowl, and dumping the last few larger bits into the bowl as well (those pieces of almond are just fine—the point is to mix and fluff, not to separate out the coarser pieces). Beat or stir until just combined.
Pour batter into an 8" pan. (You don't need to grease it, but I would put parchment on the bottom unless it's non-stick.) Arrange the plums on top, any way you like, and bake until the top is lightly golden brown all over and a toothpick comes out clean (but don't stick it through a juicy plum!). Depending on your oven and your pan, this will probably take between 30 and 50 minutes.
Serve with something creamy, if you like—whipped cream, ice cream, or crème fraîche—or just gobble it up by itself. And save a piece for breakfast.
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* No healthier, just larger crystals. If you're using granulated sugar or superfine sugar, I'd use about 1 tbsp. less than 3/4 cup.
* I'm making an effort to buy only pasture-raised eggs, where the hens actually run around and eat grass and bugs all day. I buy from
Vital Farms, which are available at Whole Foods all over. I encourage you to do the same. Some local farms are just as good; many are not. Most of the organic eggs on store shelves are not.
