For some unknown reason, I had an urge to make a plum and almond loaf cake. I don’t even really like plums, but I liked the idea of it. Ignoring the cookbooks (not actually true, I flicked though a few of them and couldn’t find what I wanted), I did a bit of googling and found a blog recipe that seemed simple and idiot proof.
Unfortunately, it was a total disaster. I followed the bloody recipe step for step, but the result was a flat layer of slightly mushy, pink sponge. It tasted alright but it looked like something from a cakey nightmare. I have to admit that I wasn’t totally surprised when it came out of the oven looking like a cake crash, as the quantities of ingredients used were a bit odd. How could a cake have 8 plums but only 35g of flour?! And I couldn’t actually fit all 8 plums in the loaf tin, so I probably only used 5. Pah! That blog can consider itself blacklisted.
Not to be deterred (actually, I was totally deterred but I still had about 3 plums worth of plum pieces left) I decided to try again, and this time I improvised:
150g butter
150g caster sugar
2 eggs
70g plain flour
1.5 tsp baking powder
100g powdered almonds
A squirt of almond essence
a handful of flaked almonds
3(ish) sliced plums)
Topping:
25g butter
40g light brown sugar
I mixed the butter and sugar together till it was pale and a bit frothy, chucked in 2 eggs and once that was all mixed together, I folded in the flour, baking powder, almonds and almond essence.
While that’s all going on, melt the butter for the topping in a sauce pan, add the sugar and mix it over the heat for a couple of minutes.
Put the topping in the bottom of the loaf tin, place the sliced plums over it, and then add the cake mix on top.
Bake the whole thing on 180 degrees for about 45 minutes, and ta-da! Some kind of Plum and Almond Upside Down cake.
I was so pleased with the result, that I’ve eaten about a quarter of the thing already!
And like all cakes, it goes very well with tea.
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