Thursday, July 1, 2010

PLUM CAKE

I watched Amelie last weekend; it's one of my favorite movies. I love escaping into Amelies magical, quirky world of cracking crème brûlées and skipping stones. There is a scene near the end where she begins to make a cake while day dreaming of her crush running in the rain outside, tracking down yeast for her "famous plum cake" and every time I see this I dream of eating plum cake in France. Well I'm not in France...but I did make a plum cake! Amelie made a Kouign-amann cake, which is quite a bit different to mine, there is no yeast in it, but it turned out to be a very moist and delicious plum cake.
Last week, the company Oh! Nuts sent some bags of nuts my way to use for recipes. Of course, I was delighted! They sent me some unshelled pistachios, macadamia nuts and almond flour. So I would like to say a big thank you to Oh! Nuts. I'm very keen to make some macadamia nut cookies and lots of things using the pistachios. I decided to begin with the almond flour for this plum cake and turn it into a plum and almond cake. The almond flour will also come in very handy when I finally attempt to make macarons!
Plum + Almond Cake:
(9" by 9" square pan)
  • 3-4 firm, sweet red plums (quartered and stone removed)
  • 3/4 cup butter (softened)
  • 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon almond extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon orange zest
  • 1 cup almond flour
  • 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • pinch of nutmeg
  • 2 tablespoons milk

Pre-heat oven to 350F.

Cream the butter and sugar together, beating for about 3 mins.

Add the eggs, orange zest, almond extract and vanilla extract and beat well.

Then add the almond flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder and salt followed by the milk.


Combine well.

Pour the batter into a 9" by 9" square baking pan, or a 9" round pan if you prefer.

Arrange the plum quarters on top of the batter.

Bake at 350F for 30-40 mins until golden.

Allow to cool for at least 10 mins before serving. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

30 comments:

  1. That is such a cool idea! I love that scene when she dreams of Nino getting her ingredients - so sad but so sweet. Your cake would make a lovely accompaniment to the movie.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love that movie! I do not remember the plum cake so I guess it is time to watch the movie again! But either way, your plum cake is perfect!! Moist and luscious, I can tell, and perfect for plums. Oh where are the plums? Not out on the market yet but when they are I want to try this cake. My men (and I) will adore it!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I like the name you gave to this recipe. I love Amélie Poulain. Definitely, one of my favorite movies, too. I even tried to cut my hair like hers…not a very happy ending story.

    I love plum and your cake looks delicious ;) Congrats!!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I can't imagine that Amélie's own plum cake could possibly be more scrumptious than yours! I've seen portions of the film but will definitely watch out for the plum cake recipe -- while, perhaps, enjoying a slice of your recipe. 8-D

    ReplyDelete
  5. Looks incredible. I love anything with plum and the addition of the almond flour, genius!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Ooh, this is a beautiful cake. I like the way the inside looks a bit moist and dense-yum!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I love that movie! Your cake looks so pretty, I'd love to have a slice of it and watch the movie once again!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Now I know what to make with all the plums my neighbors tree keeps dropping in my yard. This looks and sounds delicious.

    ReplyDelete
  9. awesome cake and I adore that movie

    ReplyDelete
  10. beautiful, beautiful cake! I love that scene in the movie, too!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Looks beautiful! As Amelie is my favorite movie, I also tried a plum cake, but used mashed plums, baby food actually. Very moist, but not nearly as pretty as yours. Great inspiration and I love the photos!

    ReplyDelete
  12. I love the film Amelie and I also love cooked plums so I'm always up for a new plum cake recipe. This one looks nice and homey. You know you're onto a winner with an almond and plum combo.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Wow! It looks so pretty and delicious.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Agh! Amelie is my faaaavourite movie, and I've been obsessed with finding the perfect plum cake recipe ever since I first saw it. Very excited to try this! So far I really like the Plum Cake Cockaigne in Joy of Cooking...

    ReplyDelete
  15. I loved Amelie too. the cake looks delicious.

    ReplyDelete
  16. wow! perfectly golden and evenly cooked, well done

    ps. love the mention of amélie

    ReplyDelete
  17. I am always looking for recipes for cakes that have fruit in them to try and get us to eat more fruit. This one is bookmarked for me to try as soon as stone fruit come back in season here in Australia. I love Amelie, it never fails to make me happy!

    ReplyDelete
  18. I stumbled upon your blog while watching Julie & Julia. I was looking for a raspberry Bavarian cream recipe like the one they mentioned in the movie; yours is GORGEOUS. I loved the idea of putting them into stemless wine glasses. As I started reading the rest of your blog, I quickly realized this would become the blog to go to when I needed to revamp my love of all things baking. A truly, truly wonderful blog.

    ReplyDelete
  19. That cake looks so deliciously light and wonderful and I love the tops of the plums peeking out atop that batter! Gorgeous!

    ReplyDelete
  20. I've never seen the movie but see it's playing on Starz this month. I have it set on the dvr and can't wait to watch it!

    ReplyDelete
  21. Lovely recipe, good texture and the cake looks perfect. Nice to be here.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Was at the store today and plums looked good. I'll have to go back and pick some up and try this.

    Plan B

    ReplyDelete
  23. Just stumbled upon your blog. I love that movie as well! What a fun idea to try to create a recipe from a movie.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Your cake does look incredible, indeed.

    Although what Amélie was trying to make was Kouign Amann (it took me a while to find the correct spelling), which is some kind of Breton butter cake apparently.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kouign_amann
    http://www.a-brest.net/article741.html

    ReplyDelete
  25. Hey Bowl of Mush, when can we read about your next baking adventure? We miss you :)!

    ReplyDelete
  26. I promise I will be back on top of things reeeally soon! :)

    ReplyDelete
  27. I love this! Amelie is my all-time favourite movie, and the cake looks delightful! Will definitely try this recipe soon. I just discovered your blog, and I love it!

    ReplyDelete
  28. Not only my name is Amelia (close enough to Amelie), I have a bit of her quirky persona, and when i cut my her like her I almost looked like her, but plum cake is one of my favorites (plums and almost are perfect together)! Lovely photographs and thanks for reminding me of a wonderful movie!

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...