Plum and hazelnut cake

You might be thinking: oh, just another ordinary plum cake… Well, think again! This plum and hazelnut  cake is one of the most wonderful plum cakes I have ever eaten. Soft, moist, nutty and wonderfully fresh for a long time. And there are plenty of plums – not just on top of the cake. The ingredients and preparation may be simple, but you have to trust me: it tastes much better than it looks. Try it for yourself :).

Ingredients for the plum and hazelnut cake:

• 170 g butter
• 180 g caster sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 large eggs
• 200 g plain flour
• 1½ tsp baking powder
• a pinch of salt
• ½ tsp ground nutmeg or ground allspice (optional)
• 90 g hazelnuts or walnuts, finely chopped
• 600 g plums

All ingredients should be at room temperature.

Toast the chopped hazelnuts or walnuts in a dry frying pan, stirring frequently, until lightly golden. Remove from the heat and leave to cool. Halve half of the plums and cut the remaining half into quarters. Set aside.

Place the butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat until very pale and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla extract and beat briefly to combine. Sift the flour, baking powder, salt and ground spice directly into the bowl. Add the toasted chopped nuts and fold everything together with a spatula, only until just combined. Do not overmix. Add the quartered plums and fold in gently.

Grease a 23 cm round springform tin with butter and line the base with baking paper. Transfer the batter to the tin and level the surface with a spatula. Arrange the halved plums on top, cut-side down, skin-side up.

Bake the plum and hazelnut cake at 175°C for approximately 60–70 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Remove from the oven and leave to cool. Dust with icing sugar before serving.

The cake can be stored at room temperature.

Enjoy!

Recipe source: cincin.