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.