Published July 1, 2007.
To get to an easy-to-make plum cake recipe with a hefty plum presence, we settled on a batter in which ground almonds replaced some of the flour, for a moist, rich cake that was strong enough to hold the plums aloft. Although Italian plums are well suited to baking, their season is too short to make them a practical choice. Instead, for our plum cake recipe, we poached supermarket plums in a few tablespoons of jam and brandy to brighten their flavor and keep them moist.
This recipe works best with Italian plums, which are also called prune plums. If substituting regular red or black plums, use an equal weight of plums, cut them into eighths, and stir them a few times while cooking. Arrange slices, slightly overlapped, in two rings over surface of cake. Do not use canned Italian plums. Blanched whole almonds can be used but must be processed 30 seconds longer until finely ground. The brandy can be omitted, but then you will need to melt the jam with 1 tablespoon water before adding the plums. Don’t add the leftover plum cooking liquid to the cake before baking; reserve it and serve with the finished cake or over ice cream. The cake can be served with lightly sweetened whipped cream.
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