How to Do Something Your Don Know

If you’re looking for a light dessert or tea-time snack, look no further than the plum cake. Plum cakes have a light, fluffy texture and an irresistibly buttery flavor. To make your own cake, pit and slice a few ripe plums. Next, mix a decadently fluffy cake batter. Pour the batter in a pan, arrange the plum slices in an attractive pattern, and bake the cake for about forty minutes.

[Edit]Ingredients

For Method 1:

3 eggs
1/2 cup butter (114 grams, or one stick), room temperature
1/2 cup (100 grams) white sugar
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 cup (125 grams) all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 pound (227 grams) ripe plums

For Method 2:

2 tbsp red currant or seedless raspberry jam
3 tbsp brandy
1 lb Italian prune plums, halved and pitted
3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cups sugar
1/3 cups slivered almonds
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 table salt
6 tbsp unsalted butter, soft but still cool
1 large egg, room temperature
1 large egg yolk, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract
Powdered sugar to top
Serves 8

[Edit]Steps

[Edit]Pitting and Slicing the Plums

Purchase some ripe plums. You will need ½ pound (about 227 grams) of ripe plums. Once pitted and sliced, you will have about 1 ¼ cups (313 milliliters) of sliced plums. Signs of a ripe plum include:
- A deep, even purple color
- Sweet, fruity-smelling skin
- Gives slightly when squeezed
- Smooth, wrinkle-free skin^[1]
Slice the plums in half. First, run a knife along the seam of the fruit until you feel the pit. Continue slicing along the pit until you have cut all around the fruit. Next, firmly twist the two halves in opposite directions to separate them from one another.
- Set the plum on a cutting board when slicing it in half. If you hold it in your hand, you may cut yourself.
Remove the pit of the plum. When you separate the two halves, one half will still have a pit inside. If the plum is ripe enough, use your fingers to pull the pit away from the plum flesh. If it’s firmly attached, scoop the pit out with a spoon.
- Discard any plum pits that you remove from your fruit.
Slice the plums. Set each plum half flesh-down on your cutting board. Next, use a sharp knife to cut each half into small, even slices. Each half will yield about six slices.^[2]
- If you prefer larger pieces of plums, you don’t need to slice the halves. You will add them to the cake flesh-down when the batter is ready.
- Remember to practice knife safety when cutting fruit.

[Edit]Making the Cake Batter

Gather your baking ingredients. You will need 3 eggs, 1/2 cup (114 grams) of butter at room temperature, 1 teaspoon of lemon zest, 1 cup (125 grams) all-purpose flour, and 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder.^[3]
- To get room-temperature butter, leave a stick of butter on your counter for a few hours.
Separate the egg whites from the egg yolks. First, set out two small cups or ramekins. Next, crack the egg over one of the ramekins. Allow the whites of the egg to fall into the ramekin. Gently pass the egg yolk between the two shell halves until all of the egg whites have separated. Place the egg yolk in the empty ramekin and pick out any pieces of shell that you see.^[4]
- If you don’t want to separate the eggs by hand, purchase an egg separator online or at your local gourmet grocery store.
- It’s better to have a little bit of egg white in the yolk than to have a little bit of yolk in the egg white.
Beat the egg whites. Use a hand mixer or a whisk to beat the egg whites until they form stiff peaks. Start beating the eggs on a slow setting until they become foamy. Raise the speed slowly every thirty seconds or so until the egg whites are whipped.^[5] To avoid over beating the eggs, keep a close eye on their progress.
- Stiff peaks will have a glossy appearance and stand up sharply on their own.
- Use a metal or glass bowl to beat the eggs. Plastic bowls can affect the whipping process.
- If you overbeat the eggs, they will start to look curdled. Throw them away and try again.
Cream the butter with the sugar. Add the soft butter to a large mixing bowl. Use an electric mixer or a whisk to turn the butter into a creamy paste. Next, add in the sugar. Continue mixing the sugar and butter mixture until it resembles light fluffy sand.^[6]
- Make sure to use a very large mixing bowl, as you will be adding other ingredients to the butter mixture.
Add the egg yolks and lemon zest to the butter mixture. Use an electric mixer or a whisk to incorporate the egg yolks and lemon zest into the butter mixture. When you first start mixing, the egg yolks won’t mix well and the batter will look strange. However, the egg yolks will eventually become incorporated and the batter will look smooth and creamy.
- Once the egg yolks are incorporated, consider adding fragrant extracts to enhance the flavor. For example, add 1 teaspoon (5 grams) of vanilla extract and 1/4 teaspoon (1 gram) of almond extract.^[7]
- To further enhance the flavor, consider adding the zest of other citrus fruits as well. For example, add an extra teaspoon (5 grams) of orange zest.
Sift the baking powder and flour into a bowl. Sifting will aerate the flour and remove any lumps in the baking powder.^[8] First, hold a sifter over a large bowl. Pour in the flour and move the sifter from side to side. Once all of the flour has fallen into the bowl, pour the baking powder into the sifter and repeat the process.
- If you want a slightly spiced plum cake, add a teaspoon of cinnamon to the flour mixture.^[9]
- After sifting, use a whisk to mix the baking soda and the flour together.
Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture. Add about half of the flour mixture to the butter mixture and blend it together. Once the flour is completely absorbed, add the rest of the flour mixture. Continue mixing until all of the flour has been incorporated into the batter.
Fold in the egg whites. Add about a quarter of the whipped egg whites into the mixture. Use a spatula to fold the egg whites into the mixture. To do so, scoop batter from underneath the egg whites and gently drape them towards the center of the bowl. Turn the bowl slightly and repeat the process until the egg whites disappear.
- Continue folding in batches egg whites until all of the egg whites are incorporated. ^[10]
- Resist the urge to stir the mixture. If you do, the cake will flatten in the oven.

[Edit]Baking the Cake

Preheat your oven. Set your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit, or 190 degrees Celsius. Many modern ovens will alert you when they’re done preheating. If yours doesn’t have this feature, preheat the oven for at least ten minutes to bring it to temperature.
Grease and flour a cake pan. You can use two circular 8-inch (21cm x 5cm) cake pans, a nine-inch (23cm x 8cm) Bundt pan, or two 8-inch (23cm x 13cm x 6cm) loaf pans.^[11] Rub the inside of the pan and dust it with flour to create a non-stick surface. Alternatively, spray cooking spray on the inside of the pan.
- Discard any extra flour leftover from greasing and flouring the pan.
Pour in the batter. Gently pour the cake batter into the cake pans. Use a spatula to scrape the sides of the mixing bowl clean. If you’re using two cake pans, fill them as evenly as you can. To do so, add a large dollop of cake batter to each pan until all of it has been used.
Arrange the sliced plums. If you want to create a beautiful pattern, carefully arrange the sliced plums in a spiral formation. If you want to create a rustic, haphazard look, drop the plum slices into the batter in a random pattern.
- If you are using plum halves instead of slices, set the plum halves in the batter flesh-down and press gently.
- Don’t press the plums too far into the batter. The batter will rise around the plums in the oven.
Bake the cake for 40-45 minutes. When finished, the cake will have a golden-brown crust. To test whether or not your cake is done, insert a toothpick into the center of the cake. If the toothpick comes out clean, the cake is done baking. If it’s covered in batter, let the cake continue baking for five more minutes and check it again.^[12]
Place the cake on a pastry rack to cool. Once the cake is done cooking, remove it from the oven. Slide the cake out of the pan and onto a wire baking rack to cool. If you let it cool in the pan, the bottom will become soggy. Allow the cake cool completely.
- While the cake is cooling, dust a layer of confectioner’s sugar over the top to add visual excitement.
Serve the plum cake. Once the cake has cooled, serve your plum cake with a hot cup of tea or coffee. Alternatively, make a caramel sauce and pour it over a slice of plum cake before serving it. Finally, if you have a strong sweet tooth, serve a slice of cake with a large scoop of vanilla ice cream.
- Refrigerate any leftover cake.^[13]
- Eat the cake within three days of baking it.

[Edit]Another Way to Make Plum Cake (see "for Method 2" under "Ingredients")

Cook the jam and brandy in a skillet over medium heat for about 2-3 minutes, or until it is a thick syrup. Remove the pan from the heat and add plums, cut side down, into the syrup. Return the pan to the heat, and cook until the syrup is thick again. Be sure the plums don't stick to the pan. Cool the syrup and plums for about 20 minutes.
Move the oven rack into the middle of the oven and pre-heat to 350 degrees. In the mean time, grease and flour a 9-inch springform pan.
Put the sugar and almonds through a food processor until the ingredients are finely ground. This should only take a minute or two.
Add the flour, baking powder, and salt. Use the "pulse" setting on the food processor to mix the ingredients.
Add the eggs, vanilla, butter, and almond extract. Process the ingredients until the batter is smooth. This should take under a minute. You may want to scrape the bowl with the spatula to keep it from sticking.
Pour the batter into the pan that you previously greased. Using the spatula, smooth out the edges and the top of the cake.
Return to the pan containing the plums. Stir them around until they are coated with the syrup. Place the plums evenly on top of the batter. Do not push them down in too far, let them rest at the surface.
Place the cake in the pre-heated oven. Bake the cake for about 40-50 minutes, or until golden brown. Put a wooden skewer through the center of the cake and remove; the cake is ready when the skewer comes out with only a few crumbs of cake.
Loosen the cake around the edges with a knife, and allow cake to cool for 30 minutes or so.
Transfer the cake to a large platter. Lightly dust the cake with powdered sugar.
Slice into eight triangular wedges and serve.