New York Times Plum Torte

New York Times Original Plum Torte.

Ingredients

• 150 - 200g (.75 - 1 cup) sugar
• 115g (.5 cup) butter
• 2 eggs
• 120g (1 cup) plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 24 halves of plums (400 - 500g)
• 1 tbs sugar
• 2 tsp - 1 tbs lemon juice
• 1 tsp cinnamon - topping

Method

Heat oven to 175C/350F.

Cream the sugar and butter. Beat in the eggs. Sift together and add the flour, baking powder, salt. Or you can put it all in a food processor and pulse until smooth.

Grease and line a springform pan 20 - 25cm (8-10”). Add the batter, top with the plum halves skin side up. Sprinkle with the toppings (sugar, cinnamon, lemon juice).

Bake for 45 mins - 1 hr, until golden and the plum juices are bubbling. This is one of those cakes that will be better the next day.

Variations

You can use almost any fruit: apricots, peaches, nectarines, apples, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, pears, cape gooseberries, cranberries. You can also vary the flour with proportions of polenta, almond flour, etc. Consider allspice, nutmeg, cardamon, lemon zest mixed into the batter.