Purple Plum Torte
There are cakes, and then there’s Marian Burros’ Purple Plum Torte.
People have feelings about this cake. Intense feelings. Certainly feelings not felt about, say, Ho-Ho’s.
Food is like that sometimes. Consider Fergus Henderson’s Roast Bone Marrow and Parsley Salad. Or Judy Rodgers’ Roast Chicken and Bread Salad.
You see where I’m going with this.
Purple plum torte first appeared in 1969’s Elegant by Easy cookbook, co-authored by Burros and Lois Levine. According to the authors of 101 Classic Cookbooks (multiple contributors include Judith Jones, Marion Nestle, Celia Sack, and Alice Waters), Elegant But Easy was one of the first cookbooks, if not the first, to offer recipes geared toward increasingly busy lifestyles. Among them was the Purple Plum Torte, here given the more general name Fruit Torte, which tells us something: this cake may be baked using other fruits. More about this later.
The New York Times picked up the recipe for Purple Plum Torte, which, in popular parlance, rapidly went viral. Soon every oven across the land was preheating to 350F whilst bakers sliced and pitted plums.
Both recipe and cake remain wildly popular: Amanda Hesser, writing in the first edition of the New York Times Cookbook, says the Purple Plum Torte is the most requested recipe in the Times‘ history. Given the paper began printing in 1851, that’s quite an achievement.
Purple Plum Torte’s beloved status also means many Americans disregard traditional Fall activities like leaf peeping, cider drinking, pumpkin anything, or dressing in costumes. Fall, for these devotees, means baking as many Purple Plum Tortes as possible before the plums vanish. That Purple Plum torte freezes well is only added incentive, or pressure, depending on your point of view.
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My own feelings about Purple Plum Tortes are mixed. I bake for my spouse and his caregiver. Both have fallen prey to the Purple Plum Torte’s charms. Indeed, whatever it is about this cake that so entrances people has entranced both of them: in the past two weeks I’ve become a one-woman torte factory. Not being much of sweet eater myself, I can only step back and be grateful the mania isn’t over a more difficult cake. After all, they could have fallen in love with Rose Levy Berenbaum’s Chestnut Chocolate Embrace, from the first edition of The Cake Bible. I have the utmost regard for Ms. Berenbaum. You should, too. But any cake residing in a chapter entitled “Showcase Cakes” is out of my wheelhouse. Hell, I can’t even reach the neighborhood of the wheelhouse.
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Into the kitchen.
Having baked numerous purple plum tortes in the past two weeks, I have acquired some practice in successfully tweaking the original recipe.
The original recipe calls for using a mixer, handheld or stand, and a springform pan. This is nice for people with dishwashers. For those without, a perfect cake is possible using a bowl, a large spoon, and a glass nine-inch pie plate. I accomplished this while dealing with carpal tunnel severe enough to merit medical attention (cortisone injection this Thursday). I share to say, if I could manage this, you probably can, too.
An early model.
Then again, if you heart is set on using a mixer–stand or hand–I won’t stop you. Do know that hand mixers like to fling flour. Ask me how I know. If you have a snazzy, powerful hand mixer, have at it. If your hand mixer is flimsy, well, don’t be me.
No photographs of flying flour–or me–are currently available.
Plum torte is a small cake; The ingredients may appear rather scant. Don’t worry. Even if you are using the mixer and the butter clumps alarmingly, don’t worry. Once the eggs are added–last, which will seem weird–the batter will find itself and smooth out. All will be well.
It’s impossible to say how many plums you should use, as fruits vary. I also have no idea what kind of plums you are using. My advice is to slice and stone four to six plums. If you have leftover fruit, eat it, or give it to somebody else to eat. Barring these ideas, serve it with the cake.
As noted above, the Purple Plum Torte may be baked without Purple Plums. Marian Burros and Amanda Hesser suggest trying apples, pears, and berries. Avoid strawberries, which are watery.
As the torte is quite buttery, the baking pan needs no preparation–no butter, no paper, no spray. I couldn’t believe this the first time, so lined the springform with foil. I was repaid for my foolishness with a hellish clean-up job. So don’t prep the baking pan, okay? At most, scatter a little extra sugar across the bottom.
Imagine pulling that free of the foil. Which didn’t prevent the cake from gumming up the pan. Don’t be me.
Lemon I ended up not using.
Purple Plum Torte is nice at any time of day–my husband, an avowed breakfast hater, happily eats this at 8am–but it’s equally good after dinner, with additional fruit or a nice pile of whipped cream. The cake is a good keeper, too, if you manage to have any left over.
Purple Plum Torte
Adpated from The New York Times Cookbook by Amanda Hesser, who adapted it from The Elegant But Easy Cookbook, by Marian Burros and Lois Levine
Prep time: about 20 minutes prep and 35-50 minutes baking time, depending on baking pan
Yield: one 9-inch/22cm cake, which will last about four seconds
The cake can be baked in a 9 inch/22 cm glass pie plate, springform pan, or regular cake pan.
Please read the notes, below, for discussion of variations.
4-6 plums, ideally organic, washed, halved or quartered, and stoned
1 cup/125 grams AP flour
pinch fine salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 stick/8 tablespoons/113 grams sweet butter, at room temperature
1 cup/200 grams sugar, plus more for pan and top of cake
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon almond, vanilla, or lemon extract (optional)
1 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
Fresh lemon juice (optional)
Preheat the oven to 350F/180C
Have the chosen baking pan ready. You can scatter a little sugar across the bottom, if you like, but this is not required.
Wash slice, and stone the plums. If they are especially large, quarter them.
In a measuring cup large enough to hold them, measure the flour. Add the salt and baking powder. I confess I don’t add them to a bowl. You can, if you want. I do not. (Gasp!)
Unwrap the butter and put it in a large bowl. Pour the sugar over it. Now stir/beat with a large metal or wooden spoon until butter and sugar are blended and mixture is smooth.
Now add the flour mixture from the cup. The eggs go in last. I know, that’s weird. Stir the flour/baking powder mixture into the sugar/butter until just blended.
Add the eggs. Stir until blended.
Add extracts, if using.
Pour batter into baking pan.
Arrange fruit atop batter in aesthetically pleasing pattern, peel upward.
You can add a teaspoon of cinnamon at this point, if you like, and/or additional sugar. You can also add lemon juice. Sometimes I add sugar, sometimes not. I’ve yet to add cinnamon or lemon juice.
Bake cake 35-50 minutes. Cake is done when a tester comes out clean, fruit is bubbling and edges are pulling away from sides. If cake appears to be browning too much during last half of baking time, cover lightly with tinfoil.
Cool Purple Plum Torte on rack completely before eating.
Cake keeps at room temperature, lightly covered, about four days. Refrigerate afterward.
Purple Plum Torte freezes, well wrapped, up to four months.
Notes:
As noted in the post, it’s impossible to give an exact amount of fruit here, as fruit does not grow in standard sizes. The best I can suggest is to halve and stone 4-6 plums. Quarter the fruit if it’s especially large. Any leftovers may be served alongside the cake or simply eaten.
Purple Plum Torte can become pear, apple, or berry torte when plums are out of season. Or you can bake the cake with a mixture of fruits.
The original recipe doesn’t include extract. Feel free to omit it here. I do think it adds depth to the cake, and based on reader letters printed in the New York Times Cookbook, I am not alone.
I have not baked this cake with apples yet, but I intend to. When I do, I plan to sprinkle the top of the cake with a mixture of cinnamon and brown sugar.
The original recipe calls for mixing the batter with a handheld or stand mixer. I have baked the cake with a stand mixer (attempts to use my handheld mixer were disastrous), and as above, by hand. My testers noted no difference in the result. Neither did I. Purple Plum Torte is not a fancy cake. It is the sort of cake your grandmother made for her canasta night. Save the mixer for Lady Baltimore Cake.
