Diving Into Darkness and an Upside Down Plum Cake

I just can't wait for daylight savings time!! It is soooooooo dark in the mornings it feels like the alarm is going off in the middle of the night! Walking to work in the dark is also kind of scary......just sayin'. Perhaps I should take a flashlight.... At least I get home while it is still light out.  As we delve deeper into autumn then into the depths of winter, it will be dark at the beginning and the end of the work day. OK, enough about the impending darkness on the prairies, we are after all, here for the food!

The other week we bought a bunch of these cute Italian plums.  Hubby loves plums and he figured he'd take them in his lunches to work.  The very first day, I got a message from him that read.  "These plums are tasty".  Followed very quickly by "I just found a worm in the plum".  Well, at least it was the whole worm.....right?  Understandably, he was a little gun shy about taking any of the plums after that....  ICK!

Now I just can't let a basket of plums sit there and not be baked into something!  I started searching the Foodbuzz archives for plum recipes and found this delectable looking upside down plum cake from Boulder Locavore.  After checking the cupboards, then running to the store for milk, coming back, starting the baking, it was after 9:00pm. So what did I do? I kept going forcing me to stay up late. Yes, 6:00 am comes quite early but once I started mixing, I just kept going! Did I need the cake for anything? No. But with my Hubby and the Boy both studying for their courses, I needed something to pass the time.  Also, the plums make me think of summer....

I slightly adapted the recipe to suit my baking style but this cake is so fabulous you should go check out Boulder Locavore yourself.  This cake would go well with other fruit if you don't have plums on hand.

Upside down Plum Cake

·         1/2 cup butter, softened (divided into 3tbsp and 5 tbsp portions)

·         ½ cup packed light brown sugar

·         2 tablespoons water

·         3 cups pitted plums

·         1 ¾ cups flour

·         ½ cup ground almonds or almond meal

·         1 cup white sugar

·         1 tablespoon baking powder

·         ¼ teaspoon salt

·         1 cup milk

·         2 eggs

·         1 ½  tsp vanilla

 

         Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

 

     Wash and cut the plums into wedges.

       Melt 3 tablespoons butter and pour into the bottom of a 9 x 9 pan. (I used my spring form pan and the butter leaked out so play it safe with a regular pan)

       Add to the butter in the pan the brown sugar and water.  Stir to combine and spread the mixture evenly across the bottom of the pan.

  

     Arrange the plums on the bottom of the pan and set aside.

      In a large mixing combine flour, ground almonds, white sugar, baking powder, and salt.

 

     In another bowl, mix together the milk, 5 tbsp of softened butter, eggs, and vanilla.

  

      Add the wet ingredients to the dry and beat until well combined, then beat another minute on medium,

    

      Bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.   I think know my cake needed another 5 to 10 minutes to bake.

I lost a lot of the brown sugary goodness through the pan....

           Allow it to cool for 5 minutes on a cooling rack (note: do not allow it to sit longer or it may be difficult to remove from the pan).  Run a knife along the sides of the pan and carefully turn onto a serving plate.    Cool about 45 minutes.

 I highly recommend this cake.  It was the perfect thing to have for breakfast this morning!!

Until next time, stay warm and eat well!

Honey Vanilla Yummy Plums

While cleaning up after dinner, I saw my pail of honey sitting on the counter looking sad and lonely.  When I say 'pail of honey', I am referring to the 3kg pail of honey I picked up at the farmers' market last weekend.  I started to rustle through my cupboards to see what I had on hand that I could pair with the honey.  Low and behold I found my vanilla beans!!!  Knowing I had plums in the fridge....I decided to make some honey vanilla plums.  I guess it is really a compote or a plum sauce.  Three simple ingredients!!

• plums, washed, pitted, and chopped (leave that skin on!!! It gives a great colour!)
• honey
• 1 vanilla bean, split and scraped

Place the chopped plums in a pot on medium heat.  Add the seeds from the vanilla bean and the pod.  Drizzle on 1 or2 tablespoons of honey.  I used 1/4 cup of honey tonight but this all depends on the ripeness of the plums and your personal tastes.  Let the plums cook down, stirring occasionally.  The plums will break down and become a luscious and yummy sauce.

****One of my favourite uses for honey vanilla plums is to stir them into yogurt!!