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.