italian prune plums.  every august they show up all too briefly and then they’re gone again – you know the drill. it’s the same with our beloved tomatoes and corn.  i bought a bag earlier in the week with the intention of making something fabulous, but like the decadent fresh figs that i’ve been continually buying these past 2 weeks they just got eaten au naturale.  and then poof.  see you next year. 

yesterday after our usual saturday morning trip to the farmers market we headed to wild oats and i bought probably 3+ lbs of these little guys which at $1.99 per lb. i thought was a pretty decent deal.  it’s nothing for me to pop 6 or more of these little purple orbs, one after the next – multi times a day.  they’re definitely in my top 10 fruits along with anything berry, mango’s, figs, fuyu persimmons, pineapple, blood oranges, watermelon, honeydew and tomatoes – making the list by a technicality as i just see them as a vegetable and always will.

and i keep swearing off baking because i just do not need to be eating cake and truly i am not even much of a baker - but this time i really mean it – starting right now.  but last night (which is so like not right now) i dug through some recipes and decided upon the ‘cook’s illustrated’ rustic plum cake from their august issue. 

i ran into 2 glitches.  first, i had the wrong size pan.  i am the proud owner of not one but two beautiful high end french nonstick 10″ springform pans which comes in handy during the holidays when i’m cooking for large gatherings which is rarely if ever these days.  the recipe called for a 9″ and this size has somehow evaded me, so i just decreased the baking time and all was fine although it obviously made a thinner cake than i’d have liked.  second, i put the plums in upside down damnit, but realizing my error relatively quickly i pulled it from the oven and flipped the plums over leaving them slightly batter covered resulting in a not nearly as beautiful rendition of what can be a very impressive looking austrian cake.  hey, i can live with that.  i didn’t even bother with the dusting of confectioner’s sugar.

but despite myself, this was absolutely delicious – a great recipe - which is what i’ve come to expect from anything ‘cook’s illustrated’ puts forth. and for me, it’s just a perfect cake.

rustic plum cake
from ‘cook’s illustrated’  aug ’08 edition

2 T red current jelly or seedless raspberry jam
3 T brandy
1 lb  about 10-14 italian prune plums – halved and seeded
3/4 cup unbleached white flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup blanched slivered almonds
1/2 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
6 T unsalted butter – cut up – softened but still cool
1 large egg plus one egg yolk
1 t vanilla extract
1/4 t almond extract – optional

cook jam and brandy in 10″ nonstick skillet over medium heat until reduced to thick syrup about 2 to 3 minutes. remove skillet from heat and place plums cut-side down in syrup. return skillet to medium heat and cook until plums shed their juices and thick syrup is again formed, about 5 minutes, shaking pan to prevent plums from sticking. cool plums in pan, about 20 minutes.

adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350. grease and flour 9″ springform pan. process sugar and almonds in food processor until nuts are finely ground, about 1 minute. add flour, baking powder, and salt; pulse to combine. add butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse sand, about 10 one second pulses. add eggs, vanilla and almond extract and process until smooth, about 5 seconds, scraping bowl if needed. batter will be very thick and heavy.

transfer batter to prepared pan; using offset spatula, spread batter evenly to pan edges and smooth surface. stir plums to coat with syrup. arrange plum halves, skin-side down, evenly over surface of batter. bake until cake is golden brown and wooden skewer inserted into center comes out with a few crumbs attached, 40 to 50 minutes. run paring knife around the sides of cake to loosen. cool in pan on wire rqck until just warm or room temperature, at least 30 minutes. remove cake from pan and dust with confectioners sugar.

i’d make this again and again if only my waistline would allow.  using the wrong pan, sloppy looking plums, with no powdery white dusting to dress it up.  it’d be just fine with me.

afterall, what is essential is invisible to the eye…