Plum Spoon Cake in the Pakistani Manner

Here it is – the recipe I promised all of you over on my Instagram page, for your Canadian Thanksgiving table this weekend – my Plum Spoon Cake. This cake is moist and reminds me of a steamed pudding; you’ll want to eat this straight out of the oven with some vanilla bean ice cream, or dollops of crème fraîche.

We have had some gorgeous Italian plums in the farmers’ markets this year, so I wanted to create a warm dessert with these sweet and tart gems. I got the idea from Dana Wootton, a California-based cook I greatly admire – she recently made a blueberry dessert, which was based on melting butter in the pan and then pouring a simple batter on top of blueberries before baking them. That’s the sort of dessert I want to have in my repertoire, I said to myself. So off I went, with Italian plums in tow.

I had just bought some almond flour (for this recipe, I used unblanched almond flour – you’ll recall I used blanched almond flour for my Rose Ring Cake), and coconut sugar, so that’s what I decided to use as the basis for this recipe. Coconut sugar is lovely for baking, as it gives cakes a subtle burnt caramel flavour – and the fragrance  pairs beautifully with cardamom, which all of you know, for a Pakistani like myself, is the equivalent of vanilla in cakes.

You will have to halve the plums, but other than that, there isn’t much work to be done. I hope all of you enjoy making this dessert this long weekend.

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!

You will need a 23cm/9-inch pie dish

Ingredients:
*10-12 Italian plums
*50g unsalted butter
*120g coconut sugar
*75g almond flour (made with unblanched almonds)
*50g all-purpose flour
*1 tsp baking powder
*1/2 tsp cardamom powder
*generous pinch of sea salt
*2 eggs
*230ml full-fat milk (a little less than a cup)
*Icing sugar
*Almond flakes

Preparation:
*Preheat oven to 180C.
*Slice 10-12 purple plums lengthwise, into halves. Discard seeds. Set aside.
*Place butter in the pie dish. Heat in oven until butter melts and starts to bubble, about 10-12 minutes.
*Remove from oven; arrange the plum slices, cut side facing down, in a circular pattern. Start from the outside, working your way into the dish, (be careful not to touch the hot butter with your fingers).
*In a large bowl, stir the dry ingredients (coconut sugar, almond meal, flour, baking powder, cardamom powder and salt) together. Use a wooden spoon to gently create a well in the bowl.
*Whisk together the eggs and milk in a separate bowl.
*Pour the wet mixture (eggs and milk) into the well. Slowly start to mix the wet mixture into the dry ingredients. Mix till combined and a smooth batter is formed.
*Pour the batter over the plums, do not stir or touch. Place in the oven for 35 minutes.
*Adorn with a dusting of icing sugar and almond flakes.
*Enjoy warm, with ice-cream, or crème fraîche.