This delightful Plum Torte recipe is the perfect way to use up your excess summer plums. Plus you’ll look like a baking pro when you quickly and easily whip up this wonderfully fancy looking dessert!
Our poor plum tree is just loaded with fruit this year. The tree is not huge but it is heavily weighted down with plums. It is probably because we had a wet winter and spring. We used bag nets to cover some of the plums and expected the birds to get the rest. Usually the green parrots fly in and feast on the plums but so far we haven’t see any! I don’t know if it is the humming tape that is keeping them away!
Over the last couple of weeks we have been eating plums like they are going out of fashion! Every evening while out watering the garden we normally end up going backwards and forwards to the plum tree. Then we don’t feel like eating dinner when we go inside because we are so full of plums!
The upside of having so many plums is that we can use them in baking. Each year I make some of my favourite Plum Oat Muffins and we usually have a Summer Plum Crumble or two!
This plum season I came across another great plum recipe. The recipe for this Plum Torte is a slightly modified version of the Plum Torte recipe that I found at the New York Times cooking site.
I have to say that this recipe is a real find! It’s very to prepare but the result is an elegant looking and utterly delicious plum torte!
It reminds me of an old fashioned dessert; definitely something that my grandparents would have loved. This plum torte is pure comfort food; you really feel like you are getting a little bit of luxury in every bite! I love how the plums go soft but they hold their shape so they look wonderful as you cut into the torte!
The sweet yet tangy plums work well in this dessert but you could use any fruit if you didn’t have plums. I can imagine it with apricot halves or even slices of apple!
You can serve this plum torte either hot or cold and it is delicious served with ice cream or cream.
I have made this plum torte twice so far this summer so this recipe is definitely a keeper. The first time I made it in an 8 inch dish and the plums disappeared completely as the batter rose. It didn’t matter though; when you slice into it the sight of the plums inside is mouth-watering! If you use a 9 inch pan you can still just see the plums around the edges.
This is definitely my new favourite summer dessert so I look forward to making this plum torte every summer now!
- ½ cup of softened butter
- 1 cup of sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup of plain flour
- 1 teaspoon of baking powder
- pinch of salt
- 12-15 plums, halved and pitted
- To top:
- 2 teaspoons extra sugar
- Juice of half a small lemon
- ¼ - ½ teaspoon of ground cinnamon
- Grease a 23cm (9 inch) flan dish and preheat oven to 180 °C (350 °F).
- Cream the butter and sugar using a stand mixer until light and fluffy.
- Add the eggs and beat to combine.
- Add the sifted flour, baking powder, and salt and beat mixture until well combined.
- Spoon the cake batter into the prepared flan dish and use a spatula to level the top.
- Arrange the plum halves on top of the batter (just lightly sit them on top; don’t push them into the batter).
- Squeeze half a lemon roughly over the top of the plums then sprinkle with the extra sugar and cinnamon.
- Bake for 50 mins to 1 hour, torte is cooked when golden brown and a skewer, inserted into the cake part, comes out clean.
- Allow to cool down a bit before serving with cream or ice cream (torte is delicious warm or cold!).
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