I have this bizarre allergy to un-cooked pitted fruits. Things are fine when they are cooked though, thank goodness. When I'm gifted a giant bowl of plums from the neighbour's tree I immediately begin planning how I can eat them without regretting it. Usually it's a simple crumble. Today my friends, it's cake.
I found a recipe online that I was following until I realized some oversights when I got home from the grocery store. One is that there is significantly more sugar than I thought was necessary for this little cake (1 cup!) and I accidentally picked up whipping cream instead of milk. When it came down to baking, I improvised: I decided to use just 1/2 cup sugar and luckily I had coconut milk in the fridge for my Iced Earl Grey Coconut Lattes. I was in luck! When I realized that I'd accidentally picked up whipping cream, I couldn't help but think how good that would be ON this cake.
So here we are. An accidental, casual cake recipe that is surprisingly forgiving. Enjoy!
Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup almond flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened, plus more for greasing the pan
1/2 cup coconut sugar, plus a little extra to sprinkle on top before baking
1 large egg
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup milk (or coconut milk, or any other kind of milk)
3 plums (any variety), pitted and quartered
Handful of cherries, pitted and quartered
Recipe:
Preheat your oven to 350F.
Sift the dry ingredients into a bowl and set aside.
In a stand mixer or using a hand mixer with another bowl, cream the butter, sugar, egg and vanilla together to make a thick batter. Add in the dry ingredients and combine.
Add in the milk last. Your batter will be rich golden colour (especially if you used coconut sugar) and rather thick.
Spread into a greased 9" pan
Halve the plums, then quarter them. Getting the flesh away from the pits is tricky, so be gentle here. Decorate the top however you'd like with the plums and cherries and sprinkle a little bit of extra sugar on top before you place in the oven to bake.
Bake for 50-55 minutes. Use a toothpick to check the center and make sure its cooked through.
Once you remove from the oven, let the pan rest on a cooling rack for 30 minutes. Eat as is, or top with ice cream or homemade whipped cream!
Homemade Whipped Cream:
1 cup whipping cream
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1-3 tbsp maple syrup or sweetener of choice
Chill the bowl and whisk attachment in the freezer until you're ready to whip this up.
Add cream to your chilled bowl and whip until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and sweetener towards the end. Stop whipping when light and airy. You're not trying to make butter here.
