Preheat the oven to 160°C. Line the bottom of a 23-cm non-stick
cake tin (preferably a spring-form tin) with a circle of greased baking paper.
Cut the plums in half, along their seams. Remove the pips, using the point of a
sharp knife, and set aside.
Sift the flour, baking powder and salt on to a plate. Put the butter,
caster sugar, eggs, almonds, almond extract and milk into a food processor
fitted with a metal blade. Turn on the processor, and whizz the mixture
together for a minute. Now open the top of the food processor and tip in
the sifted flour/baking powder/salt mixture. Whizz, on a high speed, for
another minute. Don't worry if the mixture looks slightly curdled: all
will come right in the baking. (If you don't have a food-processor, simply combine
all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl, using a large balloon whisk.)
Pour the batter into the prepared baking tin. Press the halved
plums, cut side up, into the batter. It doesn't matter how far you sink them in
- they will all end up at the bottom of the pan. Tap the cake tin sharply
on the counter a few times to pop any air bubbles
Place in an oven heated to 160°C and bake for an hour and twenty
minutes, or until the cake is pulling away from the sides of the tin, and an
inserted skewer comes out dry. In the meantime, put the flaked almonds into a
dry frying pan and toast, over a medium heat, until they're just beginning to
turn golden brown. Remove from the heat and set aside.
Take the cake out of the oven, allow to cool for five minutes, and then
run a sharp knife around the edges of the tin to release the cake. Invert
the cake onto a plate, flip off the metal bottom of the cake tin, and peel off
the baking powder. Turn the cake the right side up again. Put the
icing sugar into a tea-strainer (or sieve), and generously dust the top of the
cake with it.
Sprinkle the toasted almonds over the cake. Serve warm, with whipped
cream.
Makes one 22-cm cake.
Reprinted with permission of
Scrumptious
South Africa.
To visit
Scrumptious South
Africa’s blog,
click here.
