Lazy Luxury Cake

This recipe was given to my Mother as “emergency cake” but we’ve soon found that this name is complete nonsense. Oh, we get the logic behind it – it’s possibly the easiest cake in the world, as far as the process goes.* However, any cook knows that if you can get your hands on 180 grams of butter, three eggs, sugar and plums, the situation can in no way be described as an “emergency.”

Still, the result is amazingly tasty, the process is incredibly easy, and the whole thing is just perfect for some easily attainable, lazy indulgence. Hence the Lazy Luxury Cake, a name I’ve given to the recipe which I think reflects it much, much better.

I think it’s best with the early plums of the opal variety, but you can also make it with any other plums, or bits of apple, or other types of fruit, provided it’s relatively firm fruit. Softer and “wetter” fruit, like cherries or strawberries, are not as good a choice because the cake itself is very delicate and soft.

The wonderful, wonderful Opal Plums

Ingredients

• Plums – enough to fill the bottom of your baking dish
• Butter – 180 grams
• Flour – 60 grams (six tablespoons)
• Sugar – 70 grams (six tablespoons, too; five are okay, less than five makes it taste worse)
• Eggs – 3
• Baking powder – 2 teaspoons

Preparation

Wash the plums and cut them into quarters, taking the stones out. Spread them evenly on the bottom of your baking dish. Melt the butter and set it aside (you can use half/half butter and margarine but obviously it’s much better done with just butter).

In a bowl, mix the flour, sugar and baking powder. You can add a pinch of cardamom (or cardamom and cinnamon if you’re going for apples) now. Mix the dry ingredients thoroughly.

Add the melted butter and mix. Then, add the eggs and mix again. (Don’t do this at the same time, it will be much more difficult to make it smooth then.) The result should be a pale-gold, slightly puffy mass.

Pour it over the fruit. Bake for 50 minutes in 180 C, possibly slightly shorter if you have a large dish and the layer is thinly spread out.

Serve with a cup of earl grey tea.

💚 💚 💚 

(*Actually, the yogurt cake is probably even easier because for this one, you have to melt the butter and for yogurt cake you don’t even do that.)