Chocolate Plum Cake

A tender chocolate cake with juicy, tart plums

I’m not a huge fan of chocolate desserts. But this time, I found myself with a little problem: while planning to make plum jam and tkemali sauce, I bought far too many plums at the farmers market.

So I decided to bake something chocolatey and sweet, but with a little tartness from the plums.

The result was surprisingly delicious! The cake is wonderfully tender, full of chocolate flavor, and very easy to make.

Ingredients

• 150 g all-purpose flour (1 cup)

• 1½ tsp baking powder

• ½ tsp cinnamon

• 1 pinch salt

• 30 g unsweetened cocoa powder (¼ cup)

• 120 g unsalted butter, softened

• 140 g sugar (⅔ cup)

• 1 large egg

• 125 ml milk

• 300-350 g plums

• A little extra butter and flour for preparing the pan

• A little extra sugar for sprinkling over the plums

Instructions

Prepare the batter

In a bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and cocoa powder.

In a separate bowl, beat the softened butter and sugar until well combined and creamy. Add the egg and continue beating.

Add the milk and mix well. Gradually add the dry ingredients and mix until you have a smooth batter.

Prepare the pan

Grease a 21 cm (8.5-inch) round cake pan with a little butter, then dust the entire surface lightly with flour. Shake out any excess.

By the way, pastry chefs call this technique using the French word "chemiser" (or "to chemise"). It’s a simple little trick that helps keep the cake from sticking to the pan.

Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and smooth the surface.

Add the plums

Cut the plums in half and remove the pits.

Arrange the plum halves, cut side up, in a circle over the batter. Sprinkle them lightly with sugar.

Bake

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

Bake on the middle rack using top-and-bottom heat for about 45 minutes, or until the cake is baked through and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

The finished cake is wonderfully tender, so a springform pan is the easiest choice for removing it without damaging those beautiful plum-covered edges.

Let cool slightly before serving.