Plum and Coffee Cake.

So these days I’ve not been so ‘Me’ if that makes any sense. I don’t know, but this blog is my way of connecting to everyone who encourages me and supports me. So I guess I can share things with you guys, I think we all go through weird mood swings or phases in life, we can’t avoid it. But well that has not affected my baking schedule (thank god), it keeps me occupied and I’m working on upgrading a few things in the photography game. I’ll update you guys as and when I make new progress.

I was trying to experiment in the kitchen this week and there were some plums in the fridge, since I already made a galette, I thought I’ll make something else this time, a traditional upside down plum cake was there on my mind but then I decided to go a little overboard with the ‘experiment’ and ended up making a strong coffee flavoured cake with fresh plums. If I have to be honest I thought it would turn out to be really weird, but surprisingly everyone loved this cake. I know! It’s crazy how some weird combos end up working so well.

Also, I usually have my sister as the hand model in my photographs but this time, my lovely Mom volunteered, and I think the pictures turned out amazing! It gives that ‘home’ vibe, I think. Anyway, I think you don’t really need plums for this cake, you can try experimenting with other stone fruits too, it might turn out even better than this combo. I really liked this one though. It’s soft and tender and sweet and has so much coffee flavour, it pairs surprisingly well with the tart plums. You can use sweet  plums if you find them, but I guess the tartness of the plums make this cake balanced.

This cake is fairly easy to put together, I used a tart pan to just make it look pretty, but you can always use whatever cake pan or baking pan you have on hand. I think, the best part about baking is that you have the creative freedom to change certain things according to convenience, as far as it doesn’t wreck things of course.

Let’s see how to make it,

Ingredients:

175 g soft unsalted butter

165 g brown sugar

200 g plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

A pinch of salt

2 small eggs

1/2 tsp vanilla

2 tbsp milk

1/2 tsp instant coffee/regular coffee (one that dissolves easily in hot water)

1 tbsp Cocoa powder

100 g Ground almonds

60 ml Yoghurt

Three regular sized plums, sliced thinly.

Method:

1. Grease and line an 8 inch spring form pan. Preheat your oven to 170°C.
2. In a medium-large bowl, add your soft unsalted butter and brown sugar and using either a whisk/stand-mixer/hand-held mixer, cream it together.
3. Add in the eggs one at a time, whisking after each addition. Then add your vanilla and mix.
4. Sift in the flour, baking powder, cocoa powder and salt. And halfway through mixing, add the coffee granules into the hot water and mix until dissolved, add this to your batter along with the ground almonds and yoghurt. With a spatula, mix it all in. Do not over mix. Add the 2 tbsp milk if your batter is too thick.
5. Pour the batter into the greased and lined cake tin.
6. Place your thinly sliced plums around the circumference in concentric circles on the top of the cake. Sprinkle some granulated sugar if you like. Bake for about 45-55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
7. Let the cake cool inside the pan, on a wire rack. Serve warm, or at room temperature with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream, a sprinkling of icing sugar or as is. The cake tastes best the day it’s made, you may store it in the refrigerator for about a 3 days in an airtight container.

This cake is really fun to put together, and it looks like you’ve put in a lot of effort which is bonus points. Give it a go and let me know your feedback. Did you make any customizations? If yes what did you tweak! Let’s talk. 🙂

Don’t forget, you can also get in touch with me via Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook &/or Twitter. Or you can also hop on to the contact section of this website and talk to me there. I hope that you, whoever is reading this, yes you, I hope you are having a beautiful day. If you are not in a happy place, I hope you can hold on, cause it’s going to get better. Love yourself and love life, it’s beautiful, YOU, are beautiful.

Love,

Bakesalotlady❤