Covid has prevented alot of face to face meetings and so the need for cake has been limited, but there have been a few occasions when we needed cake. This cake was made for a colleague’s birthday which we celebrated while maintaining social distancing. The cake has been made with both fresh plums in summer and canned plums in winter and both are equally good.

The recipe is taken from Ostro by Julia Bustuttil Nishimura.

Ingredients for cake

150 g softened unsalted butter

150 g castor sugar

2 eggs at room temperature

1 vanilla pod split and seeds scraped

100 g almond meal

150 g plain flour, sifted

1 tsp baking powder

100 ml full cream milk

About 300 g plums, washed, cut in half, stones removed

Ingredients for crumble topping

40 g plain flour

40 g brown sugar

30 g flaked almonds

40 g chilled unsalted butter

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (less for a fan forced oven). Brush a deep round 22 cm spring-form or loose bottomed cake pan with melted butter and line the base and sides with baking paper.
2. In a large bowl, use electric beaters to beat the butter and sugar and vanilla seeds together until pale and fluffy.
3. Add the eggs one at a time and beat after each until well combined.
4. Stir in the ground almonds.
5. Add half the milk and stir to incorporate.
6. Add half the sifted flour and baking powder and stir gently until just combined. Then add remaining milk, stir, followed by remaining flour and stir to combine.
7. Spread the mixture into the prepared cake pan and top with the plums cut side up, pressing them into the mixture just a little.
8. Combine the dry ingredients for the crumble topping in a bowl; add the butter, cut into small pieces and rub together to a crumbly mixture.
9. Scatter over the top of the plums and bake for around 45 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.
10. Remove from the oven and leave in pan for 15 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
11. Can be served slightly warm with cream or ice-cream or as a cake with tea or coffee.

Tips

I used large sized eggs

I used metric cup and spoon measurements; 1 cup = 250 ml, 1 tbls = 20 ml