Plum Crumble Cake

This recipe is courtesy of Jacqui Hobbs, from the September edition of "Your Steyning".

This cake is delicious with a dollop of whipped double cream and a good cup of coffee. It keeps for up to a week.

Ingredients:
800g plums, halved, stones removed

For the Cake:
125g (4.5oz) plain flour
1tsp baking powder
125g (4.5oz) caster sugar
1 lemon, zest only
4 drops vanilla extract
125g (4.5oz) softened butter
2 medium eggs

For the Crumble:
150g (5oz) plain flour
100g (3.5oz) caster sugar
pinch ground cinnamon
100g (3.5oz) butter

Method:
Preheat the oven to 180C (gas 4). Grease and line a 10" springform cake tin.
To make the crumble, sift the flour, cinnamon and sugar. Either rub in the butter by hand or pulse in a food mixer until you have a fine breadcrumb texture.
For the cake. Sift the flour and baking powder, add the other ingredients and then either use a hand whisk or a food mixer to achieve a smooth consistency.
Spoon the mixture into the tin. Smooth the surface flat. Arrange the plums cut side up so that they overlap.
Sprinkle over the crumble mixture in an even layer.
Bake in the oven for about 50 minutes (test with the tip of a knife which should come out clean).
Remove from the oven and release from the tin. Place on a wire rack to cool.


I made this crumble cake yesterday and it was DELICIOUS. I had to cook it for an extra 20 minutes however with just the bottom element of the oven on to cook the cake base, I think I had melted the butter for the cake mix too much so it was having trouble cooking - but, it worked, and worked really well. I shall be making this again - I just need an excuse now!