This plum and almond tray bake cake is a great recipe for late summer or early autumn when plums are in plentiful supply (and at their best in the UK).
It's an unassuming recipe, and might not look the prettiest, but we've cranked it up a gear by adding a few spoonfuls of apricot jam to butter and brown sugar to make a decadent and moreish caramel layer in which the halved and stoned plums sit in.
Then, a simple cake batter is spooned and spread on top of the plum halves, and baked for 45 minutes. Allow to cool before turning over and removing from the tin. You can store the cooled cake in an airtight container for up to three days.
And if you are lucky enough to have a glut of plums then we can also highly recommend our plum and apple crumble as a perfect use of excess plums and a knockout dessert, too.
If you always struggled when making cakes and want to learn some fail-safe tips to avoid common cake fails, our guide will give you all the help you need when your next baking project commences.
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Yields:
15 serving(s)
Prep Time:
30 mins
Cook Time:
50 mins
Total Time:
1 hr 20 mins
Cal/Serv:
395
Ingredients
350g
unsalted butter, plus extra to grease
325g
light brown soft sugar
2Tbsp.
apricot jam
9
plums
4
large eggs, beaten
1tsp.
almond extract
275g
self-raising flour
2tsp.
baking powder
75g
ground almonds
icing sugar, to dust
Directions
Step 1
Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C fan) mark 4. Grease and line the base and sides of a 20.5 x 30.5cm roasting tin with baking parchment. In a pan, gently heat 100g butter with 100g brown sugar. Once butter has melted, stir in jam and simmer for 3min, until the caramel comes together. Pour into the cake tin and leave to cool for 10min.
Step 2
Halve and de-stone the plums. Arrange cut-side down in the caramel. Set aside.
Step 3
In a large bowl, whisk remaining butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Gradually add eggs, beating well after each addition. Beat in almond extract. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder and ground almonds. Fold into the egg mixture. Spoon on to plums and spread to level. Bake for about 45min or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
To store: Store cooled cake in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
An experienced and highly skilled team of food writers, stylists and digital content producers, the Good Housekeeping Cookery Team is a close-knit squad of food obsessives. Cookery Editor Emma Franklin is our resident chilli obsessive and barbecue expert, who spends an inordinate amount of time on holidays poking round the local supermarkets seeking out new and exciting foods. Senior Cookery Writer Alice Shields is a former pastry chef and baking fanatic who loves making bread and would have peanut butter with everything if she could. Her favourite carb is pasta, and our vibrant green spaghetti is her weeknight go-to. Lover of all things savoury, Senior Cookery Writer Grace Evans can be found eating crispy corn and nocellara olives at every opportunity, and will take the cheeseboard over dessert any time (though she cannot resist a slice of tres leches cake). With a wealth of professional kitchen know-how, culinary training and years of experience between them, they are all dedicated to ensuring every Good Housekeeping recipe is the best it can be, so you can trust they’ll work (and if they don’t – we’ll have the answer for why*) every time (*90% of the time the answer is: “buy an separate oven thermometer”!).
