A cake is what makes my world move forward. And I have a tendency to sort of celebrate even the smaller moments, because life is after all, a true celebration. And I have a knack of craving items and moments that are far from convenient at most times which tend to drive everyone around me mad. So while it’s monsoon (with no rain here), I am nostalgic for Christmas and warm spices and in dire need for a good old fashioned Christmas plum cake.
This recipe is versatile wherein you can replace the plums with peaches, apples or pears, and perhaps even blueberries (though I’ve not tried that). The warming spices such as allspice, nutmeg and cinnamon along with fresh ginger do the job perfectly against the sweet and sour plums. The plums I get by my house are rather ripe and juicy – which works wonders in this cake with it’s jam-like texture. But this also means that it has a very low shelf life of 24 hours. I would not recommend going beyond that, unless you store the cake in the fridge which in my books is a complete no-no. And besides, 8 slices, 24 hours? No difficult task, I’d say it’s a piece of cake ;p
The Recipe
Serves 6
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup soft butter
- 1/2 cup castor sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp grated fresh ginger
- 1 tsp orange zest
- 1 tsp allspice
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 2 tbsp yoghurt
- 1 tbsp milk
- 3/4 cup diced plums
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200C and grease and flour a medium loaf tin.
- Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add the egg and extract and beat for 5 more minutes.
- Add the yoghurt, milk, ginger, zest and spices and whisk again.
- With a spatula, fold in the dry ingredients followed by the plums.
- Pour into the cake tin and bake for 30 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and let the cake cool completely before turning out onto a serving plate.
