Plum Crumb Cake

It happens every time I go to the market. I walk in with a mental checklist of things I need, and I walk out with many things I don't need. It's the produce's fault. I get mesmerized by beautiful, blemish-free, ripe, sweet-smelling, juicy fruit. And since summer is slipping by, I'm holding onto the last inkling of perfect stone fruit by buying the prettiest ones I can find.

So naturally, I came home last week with fresh, firm, tangy red plums. I introduced them to their cousin, organic black plums, that were already sitting in my fridge, which I had two bags of. (I should start looking at what I have in the fridge before I go to the market.) So, what's a girl to do with too many plums?

Luckily, Jess from Sweet Amandine posted a marvelous recipe the very same day. Divine providence, I tell you. She made Plum Crumb Bars and convinced me to make them too. Check out her blog and you'll see how her effortless writing, which is humorous and witty, has a power to get you to make what she's cooking. She describes fruits and spices like characters in a novel. Love that.

So with my abundance of plums and her ginger-is-so-fall message, I set out to make her Plum Crumb Bars, which I turned into a Plum Crumb Cake. The smell, taste, and warmth of Fall in a nutshell. 

(my daughter is being the perfect assistant: tasting the subject)

The cake came out perfect: not too sweet, moist but firm, and smelling like the aroma of fall. I'll definitely be coming back to this recipe, especially since it was so effortless to make. I didn't even need to bring out my mixer. I used my hand to combine all the ingredients, put it in a pan and placed it in the oven.

There are endless variations you can come up with, as well. You can try apples, and add chopped pecans to the topping. Or even venture to make it with figs, or blueberries. Whatever you overbought at the market, of course.

This would also be lovely served warm with scoops of vanilla ice cream and berries on top. Enjoy this versatile recipe and let it bring you into the feeling of fall.

oh and if you haven't entered yet, you can leave a comment here to win a cookbook!





Plum Crumb Cake
adapted by Sweet Amandine

Ingredients
1 1/2 cup of flour
1/4 cup of sugar
1/4 cup of brown sugar
1/2 tablespoon of ginger
1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
1/8 teaspoon of salt
1/2 cup of palm oil shortening or butter
1 egg
 2-3 plums, sliced
1 tablespoon of turbinado sugar

Directions
Preheat oveb to 375F and grease a 9.5 inch cake pan.

Combine all of the dry ingredients in a bowl. Add the egg and shortening and mix until you get a crumbly dough. Set aside 1/2 cup of the dough and press the rest into the cake pan, until it's firm.

Layer the plums on top of the dough, letting them overlap. Sprinkle the rest of the dough as well as the sugar.

Bake for 35 minutes, until golden brown.

Serve.


As a random side note: I've unofficially banned margarine from my kitchen, and I'm so in love with palm oil shortening. It's dairy-free, a healthy non-processed fat, and it works great in baking. I would definitely give it a try.

{enjoy}