Weekend Report: Plum Cake, etc.

The weekend’s just flying by, isn’t it?

Today, I baked up the Plum Cake that I mentioned Friday, and I thought I’d pop in and report out.

Brenda’s Plum Cake 

The last time I made a plum cake, it was Dorie Greenspan’s popular Dimply Plum Cake.  It looked beautiful, with plums nestled in the batter in neat rows, but it tasted terribly dry.  I’m not sure if my plums weren’t ripe enough, or if I overbaked it (or some combination of the two), but I was thoroughly disappointed.

I’m so glad that wasn’t the last plum cake I made.  This cake came out wonderfully moist. The heat transforms the plums into something soft, sweet and tangy.  The cardamom comes through beautifully (I didn’t have pods, which the recipe called for, so just used 1/2 tsp of ground cardamom).  The ground almonds give the cake a richness and depth of flavor that I wasn’t expecting.  I couldn’t get my hands on hazelnuts, so I swapped in some toasted chopped pecans, which add a lovely texture.  And it’s just the right amount of sweet … in fact, I think you could even get away for having this for breakfast (I’ll test that theory out tomorrow and let you know how it goes.  For research purposes only, of course.) The verdict: go get your hands on some plums before the season’s over, and make this cake!

Whipped cream is always a good idea.

It was a busy afternoon in the kitchen.  I’ve just taken a pot of my favorite spaghetti bolognese sauce off the stove, and I think some knitting and an episode of Home Fires (my new favorite show) is in order.  Especially as this little number is one sleeve’s worth of ribbing away from being done!

Hope you’ve had a lovely weekend!  Happy Sunday!