Plum Torte

It’s plum season with a vengeance here, and I was thinking of making a plum kuchen like my grandma used to make but just wasn’t in the mood for a yeast cake. So I scrolled hither and yon and up popped (like a kajillion times) the NYT Marian Burros’ recipe. I liked it more or less for ease and because it was a small cake and we were only gonna be me, DH and the mama for Shabbat so I wasn’t looking for anything massive AND I bought too many plums, yes I did even after we kinda gorged on them, so I needed a nice little recipe. K.

There were a coupla things I wanted to change (natch) but primarily she uses prune plums and I have only the gorgeous big red ones and I wanted to incorporate some things directly into the cake dough. So it ain’t quite the same but still, credit where it’s due.

Preheat the oven to 350 F/175 C. Prepare a 9 inch (23 cm) springform pan by greasing it well and lining with a round of parchment paper (fruit tortes tend to stick).

And gather your ingredients

A note before we begin. I used self rising (or raising for my Brit friends) flour in this which already contains baking powder and salt. It’s a nice time saver from time to time. If you don’t have any, no worries. I give precise substitute instructions, easy peasy below. K. Onward.

Slice up your plums and set aside.

Beat together your butter or marg and the sugar. Another note (can’t help myself, can I). Butter and margarine do not get soft in the same manner. Butter softens much faster (unless you’re in the wilds of the tundra or Alaska) than the marg so take this into account. A little hack I pass on to you, for the marg, slice it and zap it in the microwave for about 30 seconds and it should be perfectly soft if you forgot to take it out of the fridge.

Now add the flour (if not using self rising, add the baking powder and salt as well as the regular flour), cinnamon and lemon peel.

and the eggs

and stir stir stir

as you can see, the batter is very thick, as it should be.

Spread the batter on the bottom of the prepared springform pan

Don’t be nervous if it seems like a paltry amount of batter. I reiterate it’s not a large cake and it does rise. This is what it should look like.

Now arrange the slices of plum on top of the batter, it helps to start from the outer rim of the pan and do the second inner circle after

As you can see, it’s not stuffed to the brim with the plums. It’s okay if you have a bit of overlap but only one layer or the cake and plums won’t bake properly so don’t overdo. Now even though it looks pretty, you won’t see the plums much once baked since this isn’t a tart crust but rather a cake so it rises up and somewhat encases the plums in its batter and has this wonderful almost jammy texture. So pop it into the preheated oven and bake for 40-45 minutes or until top is golden brown and a wooden toothpick comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool on wire rack. Do not try to remove from pan till cool. Run a thin sharp knife carefully around the edges once cooled and remove your beauty to a nice cake platter. A beautiful presentation and a delight to eat.