Shortcrust cake with walnuts and plums

A delicious autumn shortcrust cake with plums and hazelnuts. A wonderfully buttery base topped with plenty of juicy plums – no need to pre-bake the crust. Rich in flavour, beautifully scented with cinnamon and dusted with icing sugar after baking. This cake truly spoils the taste buds ;).

Ingredients for the shortcrust pastry:

• 1½ cups plain flour
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• a pinch of salt
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 115 g butter, cold
• ½ cup light brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½ cup finely chopped hazelnuts

Ingredients for the plum filling:

• 600 g plums, cut into quarters or thick slices
• 1 tablespoon potato starch (or cornflour)
• 2 tablespoons sugar

In a bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Add the cold, diced butter and rub into the flour (using your fingers or a mixer fitted with a pastry attachment) until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add the egg, vanilla, sugar and hazelnuts, and mix until the dough comes together. Divide the dough into two portions: ⅔ (for the base) and ⅓ (for the topping).

Line the base of a 23 cm square tin (or 20 cm for a taller cake) with baking parchment. Press the larger portion of dough evenly into the base and level it out.

In a separate bowl, mix the plum filling ingredients and spread evenly over the pastry base. Crumble the remaining dough over the top.

Bake at 180ºC for about 35 minutes, or until golden and the plum filling is visibly bubbling. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before removing from the tin.

Before serving, dust with icing sugar and sprinkle with extra chopped hazelnuts if desired.

Enjoy!

Recipe source: Katiebird Bakes.