{TWD} dimply plum cake

This week I was ambushed. By something called a Dimply Plum Cake. I never would have predicted that I'd like this cake, but it was the best thing I have ever put into my mouth! Yes, indeed, let's shout that from the housetops!

This is what makes TWD so great! Stepping outside the comfort zone can lead to surprising, even earthshaking, results. So forget the chocolate in this one, people! Try it with fruit. Heck, TRY IT WITH PLUMS. You might love it.

Part A:

I'm not really a "plum person". I don't buy them. I don't eat them. (But I don't dislike them either.) From the moment this recipe was chosen, I just *knew* that I'd be using peaches. I had a lot of beautifully ripe local peaches, and Dorie's suggestion of peach/lemon zest/chopped basil sounded intriguing. It was a foregone conclusion.

In truth, I wasn't really that excited about making this recipe. Well, I was happy to have a break from chocolate. and cookies! But plums? In a cake? What about those skins? Good thing I'd be using peeled peaches. It was with a sense of duty that I set about my baking preparations, planning for a half recipe (or less, depending what I might find in my drawer of baking pans)

I'd seen this cake on my jaunts out and about in the cooking blogosphere. I decided to check out some of the posts*. The plum ones really stood out. hmm. And every time I looked at the picture of Dorie's cake in the book, I was captivated. Those wonderful little plum halves dotted regularly in their pan beckoned me. hmmm. Then I went to the grocery store and found myself lingering at the plum display. I brought home 4 red plums...


I got to exercise the internet’s math skills as I calculated which of my pans would be equivalent in size to a half recipe. No, make that a quarter recipe. Yes, a quarter would be great. I had just the pan. Wait, it’s a better size for a third. So I did all the conversions of quantities to make 1/3 recipe, tied on my apron and began to measure butter. At that moment my husband wandered into the kitchen and said, “I love plum cake.” So I made 2/3 recipe.


Cooking Notes:

I...

- used part King Arthur white whole wheat flour and part AP flour

-used part dark brown sugar and part light brown sugar

-used zest of 1 lemon for 2/3 recipe

-used red plums. my plums were perfectly ripe - their skins were just about to get crinkly

-used Egg Beaters (my digital scale helped my get 1 1/3 egg's worth)

-used cardamom

-used 7 3/4 inch tart pan with removable bottom - perfect for 2/3 recipe

-pitted the plums by cutting them in half lengthwise (along the midline) and then twisting. This freed one half from the pit. Then I used a spoon to coax out the pit from the other half. I noticed that Deb of Smitten Kitchen just sliced the plums alongside the pit, so she ended up using pieces smaller than half the plum. I actually prefer seeing that indentation where the pit was, and enjoyed that extra bit of plum goodness.

-did not crowd my plum halves. I'd say based on my experience: go ahead and line your plums up close to each other. The plum flavor does not overpower the cake, and I think the cake would puff around the halves even if they were nearly touching.

-pushed the plums down a bit more about half way through the cooking time so that the cake would be sure to be dimply.

- forgot to add the sugar (although it was measured and sitting on the counter) until the cake was in the pan. I had to scrape the batter back into the mixing bowl and stir the sugar in. I was wary of overmixing the batter. You can see from the pictures that the batter was not fully mixed as it would have been had I added the sugar at the proper time. I think this ended up being a lucky accident.

- decided that this would be a great time to test out the new thermometer I'd bought to see if my oven temperature was properly calibrated. If you do this, be sure that you buy an oven thermometer and not a refrigerator/freezer thermometer. Otherwise you might discover your mistake after the freezer thermometer has been in the 350 degree oven for an hour...

The Verdict:

I loved the way the cake looked coming out of the oven. And with our first bites, my husband and I looked at each other and laughed. It was love. Love for Dorie. Love for TWD. And most of all, love for Dimply Plum Cake!

We were eating the very food of the gods. This rustic cake is indescribably delicious. The flavor is generally open and honest but the cardamom and lemon lend it just a touch of mystery. Of the dozen or so recipes that I've baked from Dorie's book, this one is our favorite! My husband said he didn't want to swallow each bite - it just tasted TOO good. He had two pieces the evening I baked it, accompanied by our homemade vanilla frozen yogurt.

1st day (pictures of the cake slices garnished with herbs): the brown sugar/cardamom flavor paired perfectly with the soft juicy sweetness of the plums. The white whole wheat flour and the darker sugar made my cake a bit more earthy and rustic. The cake had a delightful sandy texture, which I think came from the whole wheat flour and the unusual order in which I added the ingredients.

2nd day (pictures of the cake slices garnished with fanned plum slices): just as Dorie said - the cake softened but was still quite good. My cake stayed nice and moist.

My husband ate some for breakfast. After dinner that evening we polished off the rest of the cake and the frozen yogurt. And then it was gone. So I have no report of how the cake would have fared on a hypothetical third day.


The recipe's somewhat modest amounts of butter and oil, (and the EggBeaters I used) made it a relatively healthy dessert, at least by Dorie standards. And a fabulous choice to go with coffee in the morning. My husband commented at breakfast that the taste sensation of this cake is on the same level as some home-smoked kippered herrings we had at a fantastic inn in Scotland. Which is high praise indeed. But it not the same as saying the cake tastes like fish!

All three times my husband ate this cake with his eyes closed, just savoring the flavor. I am sure it was the cardamom that really gave this cake its edge. The thing I was most worried about - the plum skins - turned out not to be an issue at all. We could easily cut our bites with our forks.


Michelle of Bake-en selected this recipe, and I will always be in her debt. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Michelle!!! You can find the recipe on Michelle's post, or on page 41 of Dorie's book, of Baking From My Home to Yours. As always, go check out the cakes baked by the hundreds of other bakers on the TWD blogroll.

Part B:


I wasn't planning to make multiple variations of this recipe this week, but we loved it SO much, and I had ripe peaches that needed to be eaten, so a few days later I baked the peach/lemon zest/basil variation.

Cooking Notes:
I...

- baked just a half recipe.

- used 1 T. of chopped fresh basil for 1/2 recipe of the cake. We found that the flavor was barely detectable.

- used the white whole wheat for half the flour again, and dark brown sugar for half the sugar (again).

- substituted plain yogurt for half the oil. I do this with nearly everything I bake, and have always had good results.

- cut the peaches in eighths, and tried to space them as closely together as possible.

- this time I had more trouble figuring out when the cake was cooked through. I use a broom straw cake tester bundle, and it tested clean long before the cake was done.

The Verdict:

The peach cake was delicious, but didn't quite match the perfection of the cardamom/plum edition. The peaches and basil tasted nice together in the batter, but the basil flavor was not detectable enough in the finished cake to make a difference. I used fragrant basil from my herb garden, so I don't know what the story was.

I was able to follow directions this time, and I mixed everything in the correct order for the correct amount of time. (Yay!) The cake was not as rustic, and didn't have the delightful sandy texture. I think next time I make this, I will stir the sugar in at the end again, and see if I can replicate the coarse rusticity.

The moral of this story: I have recommitted to baking the challenges in this book. I've been pleasantly surprised, both minorly and now majorly. Plus, I've learned a bunch of great baking techniques.

*Palachinka (who made a chocolate version) lists a bunch of food bloggers who have made this cake (starting with Dorie herself):Dorie for Serious Eats, No Special Effects, Slow Like Honey, Smitten Kitchen, Tartlette, The Wednesday Chef, Vegan Diva, My Feasts, Cupcake Project, The Biscuit Pusher, TP, Cookie journey, Music and Cats, My Kitchen In Half Cups, Iz moje kuhinje, La cucina di Cristina, La Collina delle Fate...also, the Wednesday Chef