TWD: Dimply Plum Cake

After not loving the last two cookies we made for TWD, I was happy to have a success in our house this week. Today's recipe was Dimply Plum Cake, chosen by fellow blogger Bake-En. You can find the recipe on her blog.

I had made the plum cake about a year ago and wrote a note in my book that said, "Don't overbake - a little bland." So this time, I added some sliced almonds to the top, a bit of almond extract to the batter and sprinkled the plums with cinnamon sugar before baking. Then I made sure to start checking the cake after only 30 minutes and I took it out at 35 mintues, instead of Dorie's stated 40 minutes. I thought it was perfect this go-round!

This plum cake reminds me of the famous New York Times Plum Torte, which definitely dates me as a baker and devotee of the NYT's food section (I started both hobbies at a very young age - really, I did!). To learn more, go here for an article and recipe. It's a delicious cake, too. I think baked plums are soooo yummy - much better than when they're raw. Baking them concentrates their jammy quality and turns them into a whole other fruit.


I love simple cakes with fruit. Especially because they take so well to adding a dollop of something else. In this case, I decided to try out Dorie's Burnt Sugar Ice Cream. Man, is that a good ice cream! The unchurned mixture tastes like melted caramel candies. Once churned, the ice cream has a fabulous "finish" (as they say in the wine world) of rich, dark caramel flavor that will make you really, really happy.

I used, once again, my method of replacing 1/4 cup of the sugar with 2 Tbs light corn syrup stirred in at the end. This guarantees a very smooth, scoopable ice cream -- I highly recommend trying it if you churn your own. Ever since I discovered this trick, I have become a bit obsessed with making ice cream. It's getting to be a bit of a problem in the house in terms of calorie intake, but I have to say there's nothing like digesting depressing economic news while ingesting a scoop of perfect caramel ice cream. A spoonful of ice cream helps the bad news go down, as I say.