French Cuisine
Ingredients:
- 85 g unsalted butter, at room temperature.
- 10 to 12
purple prune plums, cut in half and pitted.
- 390g caster sugar.
- 2 extra-large
eggs, at room temperature.
- 80ml sour cream.
- ½ tsp grated
lemon zest.
- ½ tsp pure
vanilla essence.
- 170g plain flour.
- ½ tsp baking
powder.
- ¼ tsp salt.
- Icing sugar.
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas 4.
- Generously butter a 23cm glass pie
dish and arrange the plums in the dish, cut side down.
- Combine 220g of the caster sugar
and 80ml of water in a small saucepan and cook over high heat until it turns a
warm amber color, about 182C on a candy thermometer.
- Swirl the pan but don't stir. Pour
evenly over the plums.
- Meanwhile, cream the 85g of butter
and the remaining 170g of granulated sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer
fitted with the paddle attachment, until light and fluffy.
- Lower the speed and beat in the
eggs one at a time.
- Add the sour cream, zest and
vanilla and mix until combined.
- Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.
- Lower the speed of mixer, add the
flour mixture to the butter mixture. Mix
only until combined.
- Pour the cake batter evenly over
the plums.
- Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until a
cake tester comes out clean.
- Cool for 15 minutes, and invert the
cake onto a flat plate.
- If a plum sticks, ease it out and
replace it in the design on top of the cake.
- Serve warm or at room temperature, dusted with icing
sugar.