Hannah's poll lead me to an ethical dilemma this week. I really wanted the plum cake, but clearly it's not the time for these autumnal purple orbs. Peaches are little better although not quite in season. Consequently I just had to vote for the chocolate cake, which Hannah has been wanting to make for ages. It would seem that not every one is as concerned with food miles as I (it turned out the plums were from Australia!), and the plum cake won hands-down.
To be fair Hannah produced another cracker. I was surprised by the strong citrus note of the cake, but it worked well. Also I think a crunch topping of sugar cubes has to be the single best thing I have learnt since we've been going. It's just a stroke of absolute genius and really does add another dimension to cakes.
Interestingly, the subject of people not getting to bake the cake that they've wanted to reared its head again. consequently the next round of cakes is going dictatorial: no voting! Marianne's also desperate to include some kind of cake prediction game. We'll have to see how that pans out.
Hannah's Plum crunch cake (taken from Tasty Recipes)
Ingredients:
2 eggs — plus 1 egg yolk
5oz butter — softened
5oz golden caster sugar
5oz self-raising flour
grated zest and juice of 1 orange
7 1/2 oz plums — stoned, half roughly chopped into pieces and half cut into wedges
For the topping:
1 1/2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
7oz golden caster sugar
1oz rough sugar pieces (or sugar cubes) — roughly crushed
Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 160°C/Gas 3/fan oven 140°C. Butter and line the base of a 1 kg/2 lb loaf tin.
2. Lightly beat the eggs and egg yolk with a pinch of salt.
3. Beat the butter and sugar in a bowl until light and fluffy. Pour in the eggs a little at a time, beating well after each addition.
4. Fold in the flour with the orange zest and two tablespoons of the juice, then fold in the roughly chopped plums.
5. Spoon into the prepared tin and scatter the plum wedges over. Bake for 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes, then turn out on a wire rack.
6. Mix the remaining orange juice with the lemon juice and caster sugar. Spoon over the cooling cake and sprinkle with the crushed sugar pieces. Cool until set.
2 eggs — plus 1 egg yolk
5oz butter — softened
5oz golden caster sugar
5oz self-raising flour
grated zest and juice of 1 orange
7 1/2 oz plums — stoned, half roughly chopped into pieces and half cut into wedges
For the topping:
1 1/2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
7oz golden caster sugar
1oz rough sugar pieces (or sugar cubes) — roughly crushed
Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 160°C/Gas 3/fan oven 140°C. Butter and line the base of a 1 kg/2 lb loaf tin.
2. Lightly beat the eggs and egg yolk with a pinch of salt.
3. Beat the butter and sugar in a bowl until light and fluffy. Pour in the eggs a little at a time, beating well after each addition.
4. Fold in the flour with the orange zest and two tablespoons of the juice, then fold in the roughly chopped plums.
5. Spoon into the prepared tin and scatter the plum wedges over. Bake for 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes, then turn out on a wire rack.
6. Mix the remaining orange juice with the lemon juice and caster sugar. Spoon over the cooling cake and sprinkle with the crushed sugar pieces. Cool until set.
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