Vanilla sour cream cake with plums

Moist, soft and wonderfully vanilla-scented, this sour cream cake with the first plums of the season is perfect for celebrating these delicious fruits. The addition of sour cream keeps the cake fresh for longer, giving it a lovely, delicate moistness. The batter is thick enough to hold the plums on the surface, and arranging them cut-side up prevents excess juice from soaking into the cake. The result is beautifully moist and juicy without becoming heavy or soggy. Simple, homely and genuinely delicious – perfect with an afternoon cup of coffee or as a Sunday dessert.

Ingredients for the sour cream plum cake:

• 200 g butter
• 125 ml (½ cup) milk
• 1 cup sour cream
• 2 eggs, at room temperature
• ¾ cup caster sugar
• 2½ cups plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 2 tsp vanilla bean paste or the seeds from 1 vanilla pod
• 700–800 g fresh plums, stones removed

All ingredients should be at room temperature.

Place the butter and milk in a saucepan. Heat until the butter has melted. Remove from the heat and leave to cool slightly, but the mixture should remain warm.

In a large bowl, lightly whisk the eggs with a balloon whisk. Add the sour cream, sugar and vanilla bean paste (or vanilla seeds). Whisk until combined. Sift the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda directly into the mixture. Add the warm butter and milk and whisk just until combined. Do not mix any longer than necessary.

Grease a 33 × 23 cm baking tin with butter and line with baking paper. Pour the batter into the tin and level the surface. Arrange the stoned plums gently over the top, cut-side up, placing them close together.

Bake at 175°C for approximately 40 minutes or longer, until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Remove from the oven and leave to cool. Dust with icing sugar before serving, if desired.

Enjoy!