Tuesday 23 September 2008

This is Just To Say . . .



I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox
and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast.
Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet

and so cold.
~by William Carlos Williams


There are no plums in my icebox today for anyone to sneak and to eat and enjoy, or write poetry about . . . thatg would be because they have all been baked into an "OH MY GOODNESS, I just died and went to Heaven, scrumdiddlyumptious, moreish, indescribably delicious, fantastic, scrumptiously wonderful, incredible Plum Cake!!!



Welcome to Tuesdays With Dorie, the 23rd of September 2008. The day of the week that I, along with umpteen bazillion other bakers the world over get together and bake one delicious recipe in unison from that wonderful baking book. Baking, from my home to yours by the wonderful Dorie Greenspan!



This week's recipe was Dimply Plum Cake, on page 41 as chozen by Michelle of Bake-en. Michelle, I have to say THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!! This has to be my absolute favourite cake thus far that we have baked!



I love plums. The estate has quite a few plum trees. Usually every year they are dripping with plums. This year they are not. It's been a bad year for plums. On the television they said something about a wet spring and the trees not having been pollinated properly, or maybe I have that wrong, but all the fruit growers in this area are suffering from poor crops this year and they have thousands of trees . . . so what chance do a few plum trees on an estate have . . . . it's a shame really because they were quite lucious last year.



Nevertheless, however, the local shops are full of some lovely sweet plums and so I was able to buy a lovely big punnet of them just for this cake. Todd was under orders that he was not to touch these upon pain of death! (Do you do that to your husband? Tell him he is not allowed to eat this or that because it's for your blog? Force him to wait to eat until all photos have been taken and . . . . checked to make sure they are suitable for posting on your blog? Yeh? me too! now back to our regular programming . . . )

I knew this was going to be delicious as soon as I checked the ingredients in the batter . . . brown sugar, butter, ground cardamon . . . oh and plums amongst some other things. Oh, this sounded so good and the picture in the book, with all the plums all lined up and laying all tucked into a lucious looking baked cake batter. Yummo! I could hardly wait!

As I started to make the batter I thought to myself . . . there is only one thing that can possibly make this cake better . . . and that is to make a lovely brown sugar streusel to sprinkle over top of it before I pop it into the oven.



And so . . . once I had the batter made and spread into my pan and the lovely plums all halved and lined up like good little children, all in four lucious rows, that's exactly what I did. I made a delicious and buttery brown sugar streusel to sprinkle over top.

Mmmm . . . this smelled heavenly whilst it was baking. I could hardly wait to get it out of the oven. My taste buds were tingling from the get - go! I could hardly wait for my timer to go off!

It finally did and I checked, but it wasn't quite done yet and the plums had all sunk down into the cake. I probably had to bake it for an extra 15 minutes and this may or may not have been due to the streusel on top, I don' t know. This is probably what caused my plums to sink down into the batter as well, but let me tell you right now . . . This was NOT a problem . . . although I did think at first I had ruined it.



This was the tastiest, most delicious cake I have made in a very long time, sunken plums or not! From the moment my trembling hands popped that first wonderful forkful into my mouth, my heart did little pitty pats and flip flops and I could not help but utter a long, sweet sigh . . .

Bliss, pure and utter unadulterated Bliss.

That is what this cake is. RUN, don't walk . . . to your nearest store and pick up a punnet of plums TODAY and then come home and check out Michelle's page to get the delicious recipe. You won't regret it, I guarantee . . . although your hips might possibly quibble a bit about it as they are the ones that are totally going to suffer!!!



Todd decreed this cake, in between mouthfuls, as the best yet!

And I had to agree . . .

Next week's recipe will be Creme Brulee on page 393 as chosen by Mari of Mevrouw Cupcake . Great! I get to dust off my blow torch!!!

In the meantime make sure you check out the Dorie Blog Roll and see what all the other ladies have come up with!

And

Here's the recipe for the Brown Sugar Streusel I made . . .

*Brown Sugar Streusel*
Makes about 3/4 cup

I did not use this all for the cake, but don't worry, it freezes like a dream and can be used at a future date for more plum cake, or to cover a lovely fruit pie or whatever!

1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup firmly packed soft light brown sugar
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cardamom
5 TBS unsalted butter, chilled

Whisk the flour, sugar, cinnamon and cardamom together in a small bowl. Cut in the butter until crumbly. Use this mixture to sprinkle on top of cakes, pies or whatever strikes your fancy!

38 comments:

  1. As you know I don't really like cakes (would rather have two dinners) lol
    BUT that cake looks DEEEElish!
    I might even have a go at making it as it's looks so good!

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  2. Wow, Marie, your cake is so beautiful! I gotta say, as much as I love the chocolate stuff, this cake has stolen my heart. And with the streusel that you made, well, I might never get it back! Love that cardamom flavor.
    Nancy

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  3. So glad you loved it and enjoyed it so much - it looks great!

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  4. Ooo my mouth is watering Marie! I could just eat this for breakfast -Kisses Kitty

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  5. Those pics with all that cream on top....beautiful! I have a special cake I made Grumpy and I have a note on it in the fridge to my son - DO NOT TOUCH. Basically because Mom needs to photograph it yet! LOL. I can relate!!

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  6. You know, now that I think about it, I don't think I've ever eaten plums.
    Have a lovely time on holiday!!! :) You deserve it!

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  7. You know, I was a little iffy on this cake, but your enthusiasm has totally sold me :) I love the streusel idea, because everything is better with streusel. Fabulous!

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  8. I love the idea of streusel...I had the same problem with it not being done..I should have baked it longer!

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  9. if mine turned out like yours, i might have liked it! i love the way your plums are soft and gooey looking. love love love it....

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  10. Oh, my mouth is watering...I just adore plums, and anything made with them. This delightful dessert is gorgeous! A hint of cardamom...I like that! Enjoy your days off--rest, eat well, have fun! Look forward to talking to you soon! :o) ((BIG HUGS))

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  11. I'm not really into plums, but your pictures and your descriptive post are tempting me! Fabulous all around.

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  12. Oh, that looks delicious! I love plums and I think they have some nice ones at farmer's market about now . . . Thanks for a fab recipe, Marie! Much love, raquel XO

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  13. That looks delicious! I love that you put streusal on top. Hmm...I need to get a little more creative!

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  14. I am so glad that you loved this, Marie!! Based on your gorgeous pictures, I can see why! You know, my hubs once came up to me looking really scared and apologized for eating an orange without asking first. Turned out the orange was not for a blog recipe, so he was okay. So yes, I totally understand your "hands off the fruit until I blog about it!" feelings! Who knows, maybe next year you can make this with plums from your own tree!

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  15. That streusel would just put it over the top. I used to make a plum crumb it was called and it's the same idea-cake with plums and a nice topping. I love the WCW poem. I love his simple way of drawing an image and letting you find meaning.

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  16. This was our favorite, too. I love you streusel topping! What a great idea!

    And yes--I totally make my husband wait to eat anything until I've taken the pictures. (He hates it.)

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  17. Oh, that last picture, divine! And the brown sugar streusel topping sounds so yummy.

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  18. Marie your Cake is W-O-N-D-E-R-F-U-L and I love plums, I hope they arrive soon here!!!!!! hugsss!!!Gloria

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  19. Good afternoon dear friend...Austin got me up about an hour ago...It was about sunrise and I convinced him to that the sun was still sleepy and he should lay in bed with me a while...but then he heard all the birds chirping and informed me that the sun wasn't sleepy any more and it was time for breakfast.

    I think that you, Todd and Jes should come and live with us. You and Austin could get up early and let this lazy grammy sleep in until 8:00 or so....and Heidi would have a friend to be with. Todd could putter with John out in his wood shop or the orchard. So...when can you move in??

    You could do something with the fruit off of our trees that I don't seem to get around to using as much as I should. By the way do you know what I can do with pomegranates? We have a tree full of big beautiful ones...John asks me to do something with them every day. We also have big jujubies that I don't know how to use except to dry them.

    I wish we had plums to make this cake....we don't so I guess I will have to go buy some. It looks yummy.

    Enjoy your week off...you so deserve it...Have fun being your creative, sweet self. As always, I send love, Lura

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  20. I really loved this cake too! Its my favorite TWD recipe so far!! Yours looks wonderful - I bet the streusel made it even better!

    -Amy
    www.singforyoursupperblog.com

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  21. That cake looks divine Marie! My kids love plums -- I will have too try it out! Hope you are having a wonderful day!

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  22. Ooh, I love the streusel idea! Your cake looks wonderful, and I love reading about your enthusiasm for it. =)

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  23. Your cake looks heavenly! I was wondering if someone would do a streusel. Brilliant idea!

    Love the poem too!

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  24. LMAO. I totally do the same thing to my Todd too! Actually I've trained him so well that now before he eats he asked me if I got all the pictures I needed for my blog! LOL. So glad you enjoyed the dimply cake. It was might tasty esp the 2nd day!
    Clara @ iheartfood4thought

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  25. Im so glad you liked the cake too. I loved it. Yours turned out very good. I can't wait to make it again. I think it tastes the best at breakfast time!

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  26. I was eating the cake reading your words Marie Mmmmmmmm.Oh! I do laugh when you say "TODD was under orders" He-He He !! Poor TODD Couldn't you have just let him be Jack Horner for a moment and pull out just one plum.He He!!It looks delicious so much so I think it might just have me running out for some plums tomorrow LOL!! Have a lovely evening .Take Care God Bless Kath astoriasand http://journals.aol.co.uk/astoriasand/MYSIMPLERHYMES

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  27. ooohhh!!! brown sugar steusal. How yummy is that. Your pics, as usual are great. And cake's not bad either. HeeHee

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  28. I am so glad you loved it - I loved it too!
    The streusel topping is a great idea. I will try it when I give the peach version a go.
    Cheers.

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  29. that poem brought back a flood of memories of a highschool english class i had. love it! and wow, that cake looks AWESOME! my mouth is watering!

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  30. well your cake looks way better than mine! I love that photo at the top of your blog. So homey! Reminds me of fairytales I read as a child.

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  31. The cake looks lovely! The topping looks like a great addition, too. Great job!

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  32. I loved this cake, too - and now I can't wait to make it again, with streusel. Ooooh.

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  33. steusel--brilliant! your cake looks fabulous...perfect with the cream. yum!

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  34. Marie this looks wonderful! I've never baked with plums before, but I'll be making this one!!

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  35. Yhe struesel sounds like the perfect addition to this cake. I loved it! But, I really love anything with cardamom. Beautiful- your plums are so pretty.

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  36. Looks wonderful. Someday I need to bake delicious treats like this for my family. Gosh life is so stressful I am lucky to keep store bought cookies in the jar. You inspire me to do better. Thank you.

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  37. the streusel sounds like a great addition! wonderful job, glad you enjoyed it so much!

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  38. I love the sunken plums, and the streusel makes it a beautiful cake. Nice work!

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