French Plum Cake

During our lovely holiday up north I was able to collect a heap of delicious dark plums from the tree up there...it was either me get them of the birds! I have since made plum jam (really good), and preserved a couple of big jars of them but when we had a small housewarming BBQ at my Brother and Sister-in-laws new house, I thought this would be the perfect thing to take to showcase the amazing plums I had. Anyone here in NZ (and I think in Australia too), would have heard of Annabel Langbein by now....and if hadn't you really need to familiarise yourself with her because she is AMAZING!!! Her book 'The Best of Annabel Langbein: Great Food For Busy Lives' has been on the NZ best sellers for years and years. This recipe features in that book although I did change it a bit. It makes a large cake (a roasting tin size) and is easily halved. We had it with whipped cream but custard or yoghurt would have been even better. My other sis-in-law took a better photo of it for me (as I only took these quickly before we left) but I'll have to add it once she remembers to send it to me.

French Plum Cake

6-8 plums (I think I may have used 10!)
3 Tbsp sugar
300g butter
1 1/2 c sugar
3 eggs
finely grated zest of a lemon
1 tsp vanilla
1 c milk
3 1/2 c flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder

Preheat the oven to 180C and grease and line a roasting tin with baking paper. Slice the plums and sprinkle with the 3 Tbsp sugar. Toss and leave to sit while you are getting the cake batter ready.

Cream together the butter and sugar together. Add the eggs one at a time, then add the lemon rind and vanilla. 

Mix the flour and baking powder together then add to the butter mix alternating with the milk. Do not over mix. 

Put the batter into the tin then arrange the plums on top. Bake about 45-60 mins (depending on the size of the tin), until a skewer comes out clean.