Polish Plum Cake

Makes 12 servings of Polish Plum Cake

Source: About food.com

(with a Kim Blanchard adaptation)

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

• 2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 + 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) soft butter + 3 tablespoons cold butter, cut into pieces
• 3/4 cup milk
• 2 large eggs
• 40 fresh any variety plums, pitted and halved
• 1/4 teaspoon cloves (I omitted these)
• and added 1/4 teaspoon of almond flavoring

Preparation:

1. Lightly coat a 13"x9" pan with cooking spray. Heat oven to 350 degrees. In large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt and 3/4 cup sugar. Add 1/2 cup softened butter, milk and eggs. Beat at medium speed 4 minutes.
2. Pour batter into prepared pan. Place plums on top, cut side up, pushing down slightly into batter.
3. Cut remaining 1/4 cup sugar and cloves into 3 tablespoons cold butter and sprinkle over plums. Bake about 40 minutes or until a toothpick tests clean.
4. Let the cake cool in the pan so the plum juices will be reabsorbed to create a moist cake. Sprinkle with confectioners' sugar, if desired, and cut into 12 squares.

Notes from Kim: I have noticed over the years that the French use a lot of plums in their cooking, plum tarts are especially yummy looking.  I got a bunch of plums this morning in my Bountiful Basket and decided to try my hand at making one, so instead of a French Plum Cake, I found a Polish recipe.

I halved the recipe for Paul and I in an 8 x 8 pan. I added almond flavoring and omitted the cloves. And then I could only fit about 8 - 9 plums (pieces) on the top of my cake, even with pushing them down into the batter.  I am not sure of the plum variety, but they are dark skinned, sweet golden light yellow flesh and  tart by the pit.  I just sliced off big pieces since the pits don't come out without cutting.

We ate this hot out of the oven and it was wonderful!!!