(Almost Perfect) Roasted Plum Tosca Cake
This cake has it all - perfectly cooked, intensified fruit at its very peak; soft, springy, lightly spiced sponge; and a golden, crunchy, caramelly nut topping. Roasting these plums turns them jammy and unctuous - the perfect way to celebrate late season stone fruit. This is a great tea cake you can whip up in no time at all, and have it perfuming your home and ready to serve for a little afternoon indulgence. You could use any stone fruit you like - I think this would be splendid with gorgeous nectarines, or bright apricots.
This recipe is inspired by Darren Purchese’s Ricotta, Plum & Almond Cake and Rachel Khoo’s Plum Tosca Cake (from Little Swedish Kitchen).
Makes 1x 20cm round cake, approx 8-10 generous serves.
Special equipment: 20cm springform tin
INGREDIENTS
Cake:
120g unsalted butter, room temp and soft
150g caster sugar
zest of 1 lemon
3 large eggs, room temp
100g yogurt, room temp
1 tsp vanilla extract
250g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp fine sea salt
6-8 ripe plums, halved and stoned
Crunchy almond topping
50g unsalted butter, melted
50g brown sugar or caster sugar
100g flaked almonds
20g plain flour
pinch of sea salt
Method
Preheat oven to 160C fan. Grease or line your springform tin and dust lightly with flour.
Combine eggs, yogurt, and vanilla in a small bowl, whisk together to combine, and set aside.
In another bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt together. Whisk to combine and set aside.
Beat butter, sugar and lemon zest together until pale and fluffy, then gradually add the egg and yogurt mixture, beating until well combined. Scrape down the bowl as needed.
Gently fold in the dry ingredient mix until no floury spots remain. Try not to over mix.
Pour prepared batter into your tin, smoothing out evenly, then gently press the plum halves on top, cut side up.
Bake for 30-35 mins, until cake is beginning to set, starting to get a bit golden, and still slightly wobbly in the middle.
While cake is baking, mix the ingredients for the topping together in a bowl.
Take the cake out of the oven, then increase the heat to 180 fan. Sprinkle the topping on the cake, and bake for a further 25-30 minutes until nuts are golden, crisp and fragrant. A skewer inserted in the middle of the cake should have a few moist crumbs attached (try to avoid piercing through a plum half!). (If the nuts are browning too quickly but the cake hasn’t finished baking, cover with foil, return to 160deg and bake, checking every 5 mins or so.)
Allow to cool in tin for 5 minutes before releasing, then cool completely on a wire rack. Serve with an optional sprinkle of icing sugar, or dollop of cream or yogurt on the side
