Damson Plum Cake

Aha! You probably thought this cake was going to use fresh plums. So did I when I first saw the title. But surprise...it uses plum jam. And it's yet another seasonal cake with lovely fall flavors. It was created by Bill Yosses as the cake version of Sticky Toffee Pudding, a British favorite. I wish you could have smelled this while baking....warm spices wafting through the house. The cake calls for some tart dried cranberries and the plum jam melts into sticky pockets while baking; the walnuts add a lovely crunch.

Damson Plum Cake
From The Perfect Finish by Bill Yosses and Melissa Clark

Ingredients:

2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1 teaspoon allspice

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs, room temp

1 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup canola oil

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 cup dried cranberries

1 cup chopped walnuts

1 cup damson plum jam

Method:

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9 by 5 loaf pan with some canola oil and sprinkle a bit of flour over it. (I lined it with parchment paper as well and then greased the paper. The jam is likely to stick to the pan if you don't.)

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, allspice, cinnamon and salt.

In your mixer, beat the eggs and sugar until combined. Add the canola oil. Slowly beat in the flour mixture. Stir in the buttermilk. With a spatula fold in the cranberries and walnuts. Swirl in the jam in three to four strokes. (This is important because you want the cake to have sticky pockets of jam.) Pour into the loaf pan and bake for 50 minutes or until a cake testor comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan for 25 minutes, then turn it out onto a rack. Allow to cool for 5 minutes or so, then serve warm. This cake lasts a week well covered.