This morning I was a little early for my appointment with the chiropractor, so I walked down to the shore for a little fresh air and 5 minutes to myself. This is Wellington at 8am this morning.
Morning
Morning 2
‘Don’t eat the shellfish from this water’ warning
Actually, I have a cold, and spent the rest of the day at home. I have to confess it has been lovely to have a day to myself at home, even though my throat hurts and my eyes feel heavy. It has been a wonderful excuse to drink lots of tea, read, take a nap and also bake a cake. I had some very tasty organic plums that really needed to be used up so I made this plum cake I found here.
I tried grating the ‘too cold’ butter this time, and have to say it is an excellent idea and really speeds up the mixing process. The batter was quite sticky, and I used a smaller tin than suggested as there was not a lot of it. I also dusted the plums with brown sugar rather than white.
All you need is: 150g caster sugar, 115g butter, softened or grated, 140g plain flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder (I actually used self-raising flour instead), 2 eggs, a pinch of salt, plums, pitted and halved, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon or to taste along with a little brown sugar to dust the top of the cake.
Preheat the oven to 180 C. Beat together the sugar and butter until fluffy. Sift the flour and baking powder into the creamed butter and sugar, then the eggs and salt. Mix everything well. Pour into a cake tin – I used a small one, 17cm – and smooth out. Top with the plums, cut side up, and sprinkle with cinnamon and brown sugar. Bake on the lowest shelf for 40-50 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. The recipe says it can be served warm or cold, but we ate ours cold as a Friday night treat desert.
Verdict? Well, the juice from the plums made this a very moist cake. It is definitely more of a desert cake than a cake to have with tea, and I am certain it would be good warm. The plums sort of sank into the cake batter, which was good rather than a disaster.
Plum cake with ice cream and my weekly cup of excellent coffee made by husband and served in a Moomin mug from Iitala
PS the coffee was made with beans from The Immigrant’s Son
Thistles and Kiwis 