Fresh out of the oven: a plum cake

Thistles and Kiwis

There were half a dozen ripe plums sitting in the fruit bowl on Saturday. I considered a crumble, but we had just had an apple and plum crumble the week before. Maybe I could just cook them up and have them for breakfast? But then I might forget about them (it has happened…). No…the best thing to do was to make a cake. Rather than pull out a bunch of cook books, I just turned to Google and was delighted that the search turned up this recipe here for a summer plum cake from Perfectly Imperfect, a site curated by Amanda Holland of Small Acorns and Squirrel cafe.

It is a nice, simple cake with flavours enhanced by vanilla and orange blossom water. I had bought a bottle of said water the other week, so it was the perfect opportunity to break it open. I also remembered to actually take the butter out of the fridge several hours in advance for a change to make the mixing easier.

However, when I took out my usual spring form tin I saw it was bent out of shape, ever so slightly. I bought it in Denmark, so it must be at least 10 years old. Goodness knows how or when this happened, but my cake was not an even shape as a result. But who cares…it tasted good and was perfectly imperfect in fact!

I served it as suggested still slightly warm with a good dollop of Greek yoghurt and some French Earl Grey tea from local blenders, tLeafT, sitting outside in the afternoon sun.

I highly recommend this cake – so easy to make, lovely to eat and don’t be afraid of using the orange blossom flower – it really adds a zing to the cake.

Also entered in The Weekend Coffee Share hosted by Natalie the Explorer.

You can find Thistles and Kiwis on Facebook, and also on Instagram @thistlesandkiwis.  As for Twitter….am totally inactive these days.  If you want to get in touch, email me on thistlesandkiwis@gmail.com

Published by Thistles and Kiwis

22 Comments

  8. Your summer plum cake looks so good, and yes to have it with French Earl Grey tea. I want to try the recipe when it’s summer here. Thank you for your weekend coffee share.

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  11. Hi T&K,
    I do like the idea of a plum cake. Our plum tree is entering spring and all of its blossoms have come and gone already. It has leaves everywhere and looks ready for another great season. This year I’m ready both with the stilts to support the heavy branches and bird netting to protect the fruit. I’m still trying to decide if I’m going to do anything to protect the local squirrel from getting caught and tangled in the net again this year.
    But, when they arrive, the plums should make for a great cake – if I can stop eating them raw long enough for either myself or my wife to make said cake.
    I have no experience with orange blossom flower and can’t imagine putting greek yogurt on a cake, but if you say that it’s good, I’m willing to go with your wisdom.
    Thanks for starting my morning drooling for cake. . .

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    1. How lovely to have a plum tree in your garden! Unfortunately we have no fruit trees in our little patch. The cake is really good even though I say so myself. Yoghurt is great with cake – not as heavy as cream. I used to live in Denmark and creme fraiche/sour cream is often served with cake though I much prefer yoghurt.

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  13. I appreciated your illustrated guide to this beautiful cake, nicely ornamented on your plate too! Thank you also for the encouragement to use orange blossom water. I tend to bypass “exotic” ingredients like that — you’ve convinced me that I need to be bolder!

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