Amelie's Famous Plum Cake

I watched Amelie last weekend; it's one of my favorite movies. I love escaping into Amelie's magical, quirky world of cracking crème brûlées and skipping stones. Since then, I have not been able to stop thinking about her "famous plum cake." Nobody really knows what Amelie's plum cake looks like as you never actually see it. For those who haven't seen the movie and think I'm talking absolute nonsense, there is a scene near the end where she begins to make this cake while day dreaming of her crush running in the rain outside, tracking down yeast for her "famous plum cake." Every time I see this I dream of eating plum cakes in France. Well I'm not in France...but I did make a plum cake! I'm sure Amelie's was 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.