Three Easy Plum Jams Recipes with Liquorice, Star Anise and Vanilla and Drowned Plum Cake

Every year I make the same Cinnamon Plum Cake.  This year I wanted to try some different recipes including an Upside Down Plum and Raspberry Cake.   

Well this is supposed to be a Plum Studded Cake, except the plums got engulfed by the cake batter and disappeared beneath the golden cake.  

You can imagine my disappointment as it does not make a good photograph, but it was nice to eat, so instead I have dubbed it Drowned Plum Cake. 

Well as well as making this drowned plum cake, I have also made Three variations of my popular Cinnamon Plum Jam, these include Plum Jam with Liquorice, Plum Jam with Star Anise, and Plum Jam with Vanilla. These will be gifted to unsuspecting new work colleagues come Birthdays or Christmas.

I am sharing this recipe with Cook Once Eat Twice hosted by Searching for Spice. 

Upside Down Plum and Raspberry Cake

We are eating fruit from the garden: plums, raspberries and apples.

I made this Upside Down Plum and Raspberry Cake quite recently.  When I removed the baking parchment paper to reveal the fruit topped cake, it was vibrant and glistening beautifully from the fresh fruit natural juices.

However, it was the following day when we took the photograph, it had lost its sparkle. I was a tad disappointed and wish I had taken the photograph the evening before, but it had got a bit too dark.  So I feel somewhat that the cake is not shown in its best light.  Still it tasted good. If I make this cake again, I would just do one thing differently.  I would keep the stoned fruit on the side, around the edges and the raspberries in the middle because even though the cake was cooked, the middle was a bit soggy and you'd be worried if it was raw or soggy. 

Plum Crumble Cinnamon Cake

The last of the plums have fallen from the trees and they have been attracting the Red Admiral and Peacock butterflies who have been feasting on them. It has been a honour to watch them on mass, though I wish D had the energy to take some pictures as they posed without care. 

I have had my share of plums this year and am pleased to have been able to shared some with family and neighbours, after making the Plum Chickpea Curry, I made a Plum Crumble Cinnamon Cake which was a good change from my awesome Cinnamon Plum Cake. 

Vegan Plum, Chickpea and 'Lamb' Curry

I made a Plum and Chickpea Curry last year but did not get round to sharing it at the time, so with it being the Plum season in the UK I thought I would make it again and share my vegetarian vegan version of 'Lamb' and Plum Curry.  

This 'Lamb' and Plum Curry is a real recipe adapted from Camellia Panjabi 50 Great Curries of India.   I used vegan soy pieces* that I picked up from a Polish shop, they were not that great, but for the vegetarians the Quorn fillets will also work.  If you don't want to use the mock meat substitute, then just double up on the chickpeas.  

Plum Fruit Leather Bats for A Batman Fan or Halloween Party

I made these plum fruit leather bats for Halloween with the plums that were literally falling from the tree in my garden.  

I have so many garden to kitchen cookbooks and many have recipes for fruit leather, but never got round to making it at home despite having so many recipes bookmarked.  I am embarrassed to admit, its only because fruit leather began popping up on blogosphere that got me finally motivated. 

I  couldn't find my black cat cookie cutter as that is what I really wanted to do with the plum fruit leather, but I guess I could do that for next year now, so instead we have some of Batmans back up - Nocturnal Bats.  I've rolled some plum fruit leather too for effect.

My regular readers will that my first attempt at making fruit leather was a bit of a fail, but I managed to save the pulped plums for other recipes including Plum Ketchup.  The second attempt was much more pleasing.  I loved how the fruit leather peeled off the sheet like old wallpaper being stripped from the wall.  It  was so satisfactory to pull off and moreso to eat. Zingy and surprisingly yummy.

Vegan Mofo Rainbow challenge yesterday was a colour you rarely eat; and today it is to make your food look like a photo taken with a black and white camera; and tomorrow its Goth Day - black blues and purples.  I have combined the three challenges in one.  What do you think? 

Other Fruit Leather Recipes on Blogosphere

Homemade Fruit Roll Ups by  Our Best Bites 

Natasha's Kitchen Plum Fruit Leather

 The Food Network Various Fruit Leathers

Blueberry, Beetroot and Star Anis Fruit Leather by Belleau Kitchen

DIY Natural Rhubarb Fruit Leather

The Full Helping Blueberry Goji Fruit Leather

And for fun, here are some photographs I took when I went to a few months ago of heroes and villians. 

 

Chocolate and Plum Cake

The past month, I have been making, baking and eating some variation of Plum Cake, but this is one of the most delicious cakes I have made in a while. 

As much as D likes chocolate, he is not really a fan of chocolate flavoured things but he also adored this too.

The sponge was almost fondant like, perhaps my whipping and whisking made a difference this time.

I am sharing this We Should Cocoa that celebrates  six years of sharing chocolate sweet and savoury recipes; and Bake of the Week hosted by Casa Costello .. 

For the Chocolate and Plum Cake follow the recipe here, but reduce the flour by 50g and replace it with 50g cocoa powder. 

Plum and Licorice Salmiaki Milkshake

The plums are literally tumbling from the tree and rolling down our slope of a garden,

I made a Plum Milkshake with some licorice.  Even though I have stuck a licorice stick in my foamy milkshake, I have to admit I used powdered licorice known as salmiak.  Although I got the sweet salty salmiak - licorice powder from Bruge, Belgium.   Its a very popular ingredient in the Scandanavian region.  I had forgot that I had a little tub of sweet and salty salmiak, it was only whilst I was rummaging in my kitchen cupboards for something else that I stumbled upon it.  

This frothy Plum and Licorice Milkshake reminded me of a South Asian Lassi which is both sweet and salty.  So this drink is a bit of an acquired taste,  

So this drink is a bit of an acquired taste,  If you don't like licorice, just make it with a dash of cinnamon, of course it won't be the same.  I am sharing this recipe with Recipe of the Week hosted by A Mummy Too.

Easy Plum and Raspberry Ketchup or Sauce

I got back a few hours ago from my short break in the U.K.

I will share more later next week with lots of photographs, but this evening I share with you a easy Plum and Raspberry Ketchup or Sauce.

Both the plums and the raspberries are from my garden plot.  

This Plum Ketchup was the result of an accident.  

I had planned to make  Plum Leather, but I had pureed the plums way too much that I had to find a way of rescuing them rather than washing it down the sink.  As well as making this Plum and Strawberry Ketchup, I also made a Plum Milkshake and Plum Yogurt Ice-Cream.

Easy Cinnamon Plum Jam

The plums are literally tumbling from the tree and rolling down our slope of a garden,

I just touch some of them and they fall into my palms.

One of the very first things I made with the plums was an Easy Cinnamon Plum Jam, but I have a number of other variations to share too: vanilla, licorice and even star anise!

Vegan Star Anise and Roast Plum Sorbet

Its September and it is still very warm here in Wales, the sun has been shining pretty much every single day, with barely a drizzle of rain.  The day begins overcast and grey, but by mid-day the sun is out warming us up....so ice-cream or sorbet in my case is a welcome change.

I made this Star Anise and Plum Sorbet a couple of weeks back with my home grown plums.  I remembered stumbling across a packet of star anise, stashed at the bottom or one of my spice jars.  Star anise is one of the prettiest spices I have ever set eyes on. I thought it would be a nice addition to what may have been a plain plum sorbet.

I know I should have allowed the sorbet to sit a little to soften when I took it out of the freezer, as it would have been easy to scoop out perfect ball for the photograph, but I was being impatient as it was getting dark. If you look at the last image, it shows the Plum Sorbet beginning to melt and looking more 'creamish'. But I must say, this Plum Sorbet is unlike my previous sorbets, it is not snow icy at all.  Its a lot more smoother and richer, its sharp and has a lovely twang.  The star anise is detectable, but not overpowering, but it is not shy on kissing you on the lips either.  

And finally the colour, so pretty - it reminded me of a shimmering blusher that I once used to wear in my younger days. Ahhhh soft dimpled rosy cheeks. 

Spiced Plum Chutney

Remember the plums that I harvested early last week, well here is one of the recipes that I promised to share - Spiced Plum Chutney, the other for Star Anise - Plum Sorbet will be shared hopefully tomorrow. 

We have mostly been enjoying the Spiced Plum Chutney in the evenings when we get the nibbles, but it would also be fantastic in a panini for lunch.  Its sharp, tangy with a little bit of spice that hits you unexpectedly. 

I've served this Spiced Plum Chutney here with Nairn oatcakes, but I have in the past made oatcakes from scratch.  Lots of time in fact , especially when I lived in Scotland such a Black Pepper Oatcakes, Chilli Oatcakes, Wild Garlic Oatcakes , and even Welsh Laverbread Oatcakes.

Recipe will be posted at the weekend.

Vegan Cinnamon Plum Cake

I mentioned in previous blog post that I make a vegetarian version of this Cinnamon Plum Cake.  I make it almost every year, but this year I decided to do a vegan version, especially for Vegan MoFo 2014 and it was yummy.

I don't quite know how, but there was a slight pink hue when I sliced the cake.  So somehow the natural plum juice colour infused the sponge batter, which was a nice surprising effect, along with the brown specks from the cinnamon.  D will eat vegan cake, but is not that crazy about them, but thought this one was particularly good .

Enjoy with a cuppa or vegan cream!  As this vegan Cinnamon Plum Cake is made with home-grown plums and very much in season,

Plum, Plum

Unlike supermarket perfectly plum shaped, ripened and blemish free plums, my plum are blotchy, irregular in shape and varying in shades of ripeness.  I am actually quite surprised that I even got a harvest, as both my apple and pear trees have produced zilch.  When I looked at the plums a few weeks back, I thought they were for the bin (not even the compost bin) as they were not looking good at all, some had gone mouldy, some rot and some had some kind of resin stuck to it. But some fought off the whatever was attacking them and ended up in my kitchen. 

I have made a number of recipes with some of them.  As well as old favourites like the Ginger Plum Crumble, but also some new recipes that I will share later on my blog such as Star Anise Sorbet, Spicy Plum Chutney,

a vegan Plum Cake based on this this Cinnamon Plum Cake, 

but right now, I am sharing these fresh plums with Daphne Dandelions for Harvest Monday.

Oaty Ginger and Plum Crumble

My father gave me some plums that have fallen off the tree in the garden both due to ripeness and weight.  The nippers (nephews and nieces) were not that keen on them, so they were looking for someone to offload them on to.  I gladly obliged.  I had ideas of making my Almond, Plum and Thyme Tart.  But as the days went by, sunny on some and dark and grey on others, my thoughts turned to a homely plum crumble: one that I've made before, infused with fiery ginger.  I like ginger, there is something warming and healing about it.  This particular crumble is also made with rolled oats, I like the additional chewy texture it offers.   

Vegan Plum and Hibiscus Cakes

I had a bit of a lazy day today, even the blue skies that promised not to shed a drop of rain could entice me out.  My Sunday morning was spent in the warmth of my bed: re-energising for the coming week.  When I did finally get up, I spent most of it in front of the computer, not surfing the cyber world for pleasure but catching up with e mails, invoices and such things.  Also , thanks for those of you who told me about Chrome Google, its been downloaded and has made uploading photographs so much easier, especially as blogger is still playing up.  I have to admit, regardless of this technical hitch, I have not got my blogging mojo back proper yet. I am finding that the words are not coming easy as they used too.  I am not too sure what to write about too.  Of course I know some of you are all interested in what I have been cooking, but I know too that some of you are also genuinely interested in what is going on my life too and my work situation too, but things are not on the up there and are bringing me down a little, so I don't really want to focus on that so much yet.   So I guess at this point, I better quickly share another vegan cake recipe.

Over Christmas I used the edible hibiscus flowers for my non-alcoholic drinks served in fluted wine glasses.  I had some left over, which I decided to incorporate into these cakes which were baked these in oval pie tins.  I normally make these cakes with rhubarb, and I do have some home-grown chopped and ready to go stashed in the freezer, but plums it was to be when I was given some by my mother who picked up too many to eat.   

The juices from the plum oozes a little into the batter and the hibiscus flower flavour is subtle in the background.  The texture of this cake is that it is soft on the inside and the top is shortbread like. I doused it with a little icing sugar to appeal to the eyes too. 

Plum and Hibiscus Flower Cakes
Serves 6 maybe 8
Ingredients
280g plain flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon bicarbonate soda
½ teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons ground flaxseeds
90g caster sugar
125ml vegetable oil
130ml orange juice
4 plums, sliced
1 teaspoon edible dried hibiscus flowers, re-hydrated and chopped
Method
Preheat oven to gas mark 4.
In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt. Stir in the flaxseeds, sugar, oil, juice, plums and chopped hibiscus. Stir gently until just mixed. The mixture will seem dry, but don't worry, it will moisten with the plums. Spoon into a lined individual baking tins and bake for 25 -30 minutes. Test with a skewer to see if done.

Plum Tart Again

I think D deliberately picked up some more plums when I wrote 'fruit' on the shopping list, as he was wishing for some more plum tart.

Well I don't blame him, it was rather good.

This is exactly the same recipe for the Almond and Plum Tart I made last month, except without the plum syrup.

Almond and Plum Tart
Serves 4 - 6
For the Rich Shortcrust Pastry
Ingredients
170g plain flour
a pinch of salt
100g unsalted butter
1 medium egg yolk
Cold water, to combine
Method for the Rich Shortcrust Pastry
Sift the flour with the salt into a large bowl. Rub in the butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Mix the egg yolk with 2 tablespoons water and add to the mixture. Mix to a firm dough. Chill, wrapped for 30 minutes before using. Roll out to line a 13 x 4 inch loose bottomed flan tin.
For the Almond and Plum Filling
75g unsalted butter
100g golden caster sugar
1 egg and 1 egg yolk
65g ground almonds
40g plain flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
200g plums, pitted and sliced
Method
Preheat oven to gas mark 4.
Beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, then beat in the egg and egg yolk. Fold in the ground almonds and flour and vanilla extract. Spread the mixture over the pastry base and scatter or neatly arrange 60g of the plums on top. Bake in oven for 25 - 30 minutes, until lightly golden and firm to the touch.

Almond and Plum Tart with Plum Syrup

Now I don't want to get over-confident and boast, but I think you are gonna love this sweet 'Almond and Plum Tart'.

Its very much like English Bakewell tart in that its has a soft almondine filling, but instead of finding a layer of raspberry jam, this tart is dressed with plum crescents.  The plums are both sweet and sharp. What elevates this tart further is the plum syrup - sticky and sweet.

I will definitely be making this again and hope that I am tempting you to make it too.

The plum syrup was especially delightful and I can imagine it spooned over vanilla ice-cream, or stirred through Greek yogurt; or even an indulgent topping for waffles.

Almond and Plum Tart
Serves 4 - 6
For the Rich Shortcrust Pastry
Ingredients
170g plain flour
a pinch of salt
100g unsalted butter
1 medium egg yolk
Cold water, to combine
Method for the Rich Shortcrust Pastry
Sift the flour with the salt into a large bowl. Rub in the butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Mix the egg yolk with 2 tablespoons water and add to the mixture. Mix to a firm dough. Chill, wrapped for 30 minutes before using. Roll out to line a 13 x 4 inch loose bottomed flan tin.
For the Almond and Plum Filling
75g unsalted butter
175 g golden caster sugar
1 egg and 1 egg yolk
65g ground almonds
40g plain flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
200g plums, pitted and sliced
Method
Preheat oven to gas mark 4.
Beat the butter and half of the sugar together until light and fluffy, then beat in the egg and egg yolk.  Fold in the ground almonds and flour and vanilla extract.  Spread the mixture over the pastry base and scatter or neatly arrange 60g of the plums on top.  Bake in oven for 25 - 30 minutes, until lightly golden and firm to the touch. 
For the plum syrup
Put the remaining sugar in a saucepan with 3 tablespoon water and heat gently until dissolved.  Bring to the boil and poach the remaining plums in it for a couple of minutes.  Remove them with a slotted spoon onto a  plate.  Continue to boil the liquid until it reduces and becomes thick and syrupy, but don't let it caramelise.  Add the plums back to it and allow it to cool, before pouring it over the tart.  Serve warm.

Another Plum and Almond Cake

Some recipes are worth making again and again. And when local plums arrive on the scene, this is one plum cake I look forward to making.  It's sweet and sharp from the plummy plums.  Its not a crumby cake, but soft and meltingly smooth from the ground almonds. 

In one year, I must have made this Plum and almond cake at least four times. So I knew it would not disappoint my mother-in-law.  Not only did she have one slice, she had two.  Well you could see the pleasing smile on my face.

In the past, I've made this dish in a round baking tin, this time it was a square one, but you decide what you like.  I am linking this British seasonal plum cake to Monday Mania hosted by the Healthy Home Economist and Melt in Your Mouth Mondays#26 hosted by Make Ahead Meals for Busy Moms.

Plum and Almond Cake
Serves 8
Ingredients
6 - 8 plums
60g ground almonds
175g softened butter
175g golden caster sugar
3 eggs
175g self-raising flour
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
Method
Heat oven to gas 4. Butter the base of a 20-22cm cake tin. Halve and stone the plums, then cut them into quarters. Cream the butter and sugar together, then add the eggs, flour, ground almonds, lemon zest and juice. Stir well to combine. Spoon half of the cake mix into the prepared tin and smooth it over. Scatter half the plums over the cake mix, then spoon the remaining cake mix on top. Smooth over and scatter with the remaining fruit. Bake for 40 - 50 minutes until the cake is firm and golden brown. cool for 5 minutes, then turn out and cool completely before serving.

Cinnamon Plum Torte

About this time two year ago I visited my in laws in Essex, and whilst there I stumbled across what I believed was a cherry tree.  This fruit was yellow with a red blush; they were very sweet and tasted like cherries, however they were a little larger, that made me question if they were really cherries.  Also the stems were different from the traditional cherries we see in the U.K.  So I am having some doubts as to whether they were something else.  So if anyone can help me it would be appreciated - see here.

This year I came back with some more foraged fruits from Prunus family.

But once again I am unsure what they exactly what kind of plum they are.  Those in my Growing and Gardening books, as well as the Internet are a deep purple colour.  These tasted like wild plums, just a little more sour.  They were also round.  I am guessing that these are Damson Plums, so much so that I have tentatively decided to call the recipe 'Damson' Plum Torte, but of course I may be completely wrong (I was) and some of you will be able to tell me for certain that these are just another plum.  Well I did tell some of you that I am still learning about foraging wild weeds and wild fruit and this foraging experience shows you that this is the case.  I would also like to thank you to those of you who responded to the photograph of the edible weed on this blog post. 

Updated: 14/07/2011: Thank you to Gardeningbren, Mark Willis and Little Black Fox who have identified these as cherry plums (mirabelles), not damsons. 

I brought these foraged fruits back up with me at the weekend and made this Cinnamon Damson Plum Torte with them.  I did chuckle to myself about the food miles.

Since coming back up to Scotland, we have been enjoying a slice of this Torte each day.  The last couple of slices will be enjoyed later today with a little whipped cream.

I know the Torte looks like its burnt - it is a little, as I left it in the oven about 8 minutes too long, but the bronze colouring is also contributed by the cinnamon sugar on top.  This fresh fruit dessert was a splendid change from a chocolate or dried fruit cake.  I especially liked how the batter rose, enveloping and bursting the red sharp fruit.

I am submitting this recipe to Rachel from The Crispy Cook for this week’s Weekend Herb Blogging (WHB) #292. WHB is overseen by Haalo from Cook Almost Anything.

Cinnamon Damson Cherry Plum Torte
Serves 6
Ingredients
100g butter, at room temperature
140g golden caster sugar
2 eggs
140g plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
400g damsons or plums, pitted
1 tablespoon golden caster sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Method
Preheat the oven to gas mark 4.
Lightly butter or oil a 9 inch round glass pie pan.
With an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar. Add the eggs and beat for 1 minute. Add the flour, baking powder and salt and mix just until the dry ingredients are incorporated. Spoon the batter into he prepared pan and spread it evenly. Arrange the damson or plums onto the batter, have some cut side down, others cut side up pressing them in gently into the batter. Stir together the sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle it evenly over the torte. Bake for 35 - 405 minutes. The torte is ready when the top is lightly browned and the sides begin to pull away from the pan. Cool on a rack for 10 minutes before serving. Enjoy warm or at room temperature. Adapted from Moosewood Restaurant Celebrates.