Spice is Nice Plum Cake

I had some plums that I needed to use up the other night as well as company for dinner. I had already made a plum crumble several days back and wanted to do something different with them.

Should I make a pie?



Should I make a cake, or another crumble?



And then I remembered this lovely cake that I had made last year, with it's buttery bottom and crunchy streusel top! Kind of like a cake and crumble combined . . . just perfect!



This is incredibly moreish, and smells so beautiful when it is baking, with the cinnamon, cardamom and nutmeg in the steusel, not to mention the lemon zest and vanilla in the base . . .



We gorged on thick, warm slices of it, with huge dollops of extra thick double cream spooned over top of it. Sometimes it's good to indulge oneself . . . very good . . .



*Spice is Nice Plum Cake*
Serves 8
Printable Recipe

I like to use slightly tart Italian plums for this, but really . . . any type of plum will do. A moist and rich cake with the delicate flavours of lemon and vanilla, topped with juicy sliced plums and covered with a blanket of a wonderfully fragrant and crunchy and spicy streusel! This is what I would call moreish!

4 ounces butter, softened
1/3 cup caster sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 large egg
1 TBS sour cream
pinch of salt
the grated zest of one lemon
1 3/4 cups plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 cups plums, pitted and sliced into wedges
for the streusel:
6 TBS cold butter, cut into bits
3/4 cup flour
1/3 cup caster sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1/4 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
To serve:
Spooning cream, Clotted cream or vanilla ice cream




Pre-heat the oven to 180*C?375*F. Lightly butter a 10 inch cake tin with a removeable bottom. Line with baking paper, butter the paper, and set aside.

Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg, lemon zest, vanilla, sour cream and salt. Whisk the flour and baking powder together and then add it to the creamed mixture, mixing it in well. Spread this batter in the bottom of the cake tin.

Liberally spread the plums over top of the batter to within 1/2 inch of the edges. I like to arrange mine in a neat circular pattern, but that's just me. It's not really necessary.

To make the streusel, whisk together the sugar, flour and spices. Rub in the butter until the mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle the crumbs evenly over top of the plums.

Bake in the pre-heated oven on a middle rack for approximately 45 minutes to one hour, until the topping is nicely golden brown and the cake tests done. Remove from the oven and allow to sit for about 15 minutes on a wire rack, before you remove the sides of the pan and the paper. Serve warm, cut into wedges with some spooning cream, clotted cream or ice cream.



Over in The Cottage today, delicious Molasses Crinkles.