Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 50 minutes
Serves: 10
Ingredients
- 175g butter at room temperature 200g
- soft brown sugar, plus 2 tbsp
- 600g plums halved and stones removed
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- 3 eggs, separated
- 125g self-raising flour
- 100g ground almonds
- 1 tsp baking powder
- A pinch of salt
- 125ml milk
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4 /ESSE dial guide MODERATE (Aim for the dial reading to be at the top end of MODERATE or very low end of HOT. In a small pan, melt 50g of the butter and mix with 2 tbsp of the soft brown sugar.
- Line a 22cm cake tin with baking parchment. Pour the butter mix into the base of the tin and make sure it is well-covered. (If you are using an oven-proof frying pan, the butter can be melted in it).
- Arrange the halved plums, skin-side down, in the bottom of the tin. Cream together the rest of the soft butter with the remaining sugar and vanilla essence until pale and fluffy. Separate the eggs, set the whites to one side and add the yolks one at a time to the creamed mix, beating well after each addition.
- In a bowl, sift the flour into the remaining dry ingredients. Add this to the wet mix a third at a time, folding through with a little milk at each addition. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites just until they are soft peaks. Add a third of the whites to the cake mix, stirring through, before tipping in the rest and folding in gently. The cake mix should fall off a spoon easily.
- Spoon the mix over the plums and bake for 50 minutes, or until the top is firm to the touch or an inserted knife comes out clean. Remove from the oven and leave for about 10 minutes before turning out on to a plate.
- Serve warm or at room temperature.
Recipe by Jane Baxter – demonstrator of ESSE electric range cookers at Humble by Nature.
