This simple plum duff has had the most pageviews of ANY post on my blog. 5775 and counting...
(First posted April 2013)My 94 year old Gran is a regular movie goer. A couple of years ago she watched a doco-drama about a young family living an alternative lifestyle off the land in Hawkes Bay.
'How was it?' I asked.
'A bit too much navel-gazing for me,' she replied.
I suspect she'd find column writing similar. Each week the columnists conjures up a story, often digging into their past, baring a bit of their soul along with a few personal secrets.
Today, being Thursday and my regular post-a-blog-post day, I thought I'd talk about food. Instead of myself. Cakes in fact. The lovely, Melinda Szymanik, children's book author and baker of artisan cakes and whoopie pies, was my source of inspiration. A bowl full of over-ripe black doris plums also beckoned. I googled, 'plum cake almond meal', found a recipe toute-de-suite, then made my own version.
Upside Down Plum Cake:
All you need to do is:Melt 50g of butter in a spring-from tin, then mix in 1/4 cup brown sugar
Place 9 halved, de-stoned plums cut side down (peaches or apricots work well too)
Cream 125g butter &1 tsp real vanilla essence with 1/2 cup sugar until, well, creamy
Beat in 3 fresh free range eggs, one at a time
Add the rind of one lemon
Fold in 1 cup self raising flour with 1 cup almond meal
Spoon over plums
Bake for 45-50 mins at 180, or until skewer comes out cleanly...you know the drill.
Plop out onto Nana's best Royal Doulton and serve with whipped cream. Actually I ate mine with Easy-yo greek 'n coconut yoghurt, (possibly one of the best thick and creamy yoghurts ever invented), while watching, "London Boulevard", with Keira Knightly and Colin Farrell.
If you're into gangster movies set in a moody London, this movie is for you. Be warned though it's R16 and comes with as much red splatters as my plum duff. In brief, Keira Knightly, a reclusive movie star, hides from the world in her Holland Park mansion. She hires ex-con, Colin Farrell recently released from Pentonville for GBH, to be her bodyguard and handyman. This troubled pair become lovers. Unfortunately he cannot shake his ganster past and there is no happy ending. Maybe worth a watch if you're at the DVD store these holidays with the kids and you want to add some adult viewing to your 5 for $10 weeklies?
Enjoy!
colour enhanced plum duff
