These brown sugar plum cakes are an easy way to showcase one of summer’s most succulent fruits. Mix up a simple cake batter and pour it into single serving sized ramekins or oven-safe bowls. Add halved plum slices, sprinkle with brown sugar and bake for thirty minutes. We like to eat these warm, topped with French vanilla ice cream.
For the photos shown here I removed a bit of cake on top so you could see the plum inside. It’s not necessary to do this – but there’s a certain charm that comes with breaking through the top of the cake with your spoon, ice cream slowly melting on the top, only to discover the purple plum juices inside. Wouldn’t you agree?
Plum Recipes on Other Blogs:
- Plum Upside Down Cake at Simply Recipes
- Plum and Peach Crisp Recipe at 101 Cookbooks
- Dimply Plum Cake at Smitten Kitchen
- Plum Cupcakes with Sweet-Corn Ice Cream at Zoë Bakes
Brown Sugar Plum Cakes
Adapted from Baking with Julia, by Dorie Greenspan.
Ingredients: Makes 4 single-serving cakes
- 1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 2/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 cup whole milk
- 2 large, ripe plums, halved and pitted
Special equipment: 4 large ramekins or oven-safe baking dishes
Directions
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Coat your baking dishes with PAM baking spray.
In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment or with a hand-held mixer, cream the butter, 2 tablespoons of brown sugar and the granulated sugar together on medium speed for 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat for 3 minutes more, or until the mixture turns white. Increase the speed to high and add the eggs one at a time, beating for 30 seconds between additions. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, then add the vanilla and almond extracts, beating on high for 30 seconds more.
On low speed add the flour 1/4 cup at a time, then the baking soda, beating for 15 seconds. Add the milk and mix again for a few seconds, then finish the mixing process by hand to prevent over mixing the batter.
Divide the batter among your baking dishes. Place a plum half, cut side up, into each dish, gently pushing it down into the batter. Don’t push it in too far, you want to leave some of it above batter level. Sprinkle an equal amount of the remaining brown sugar over each plum.
Place the dishes on a cookie pan, then bake for 30 minutes until the cakes are golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the cake part of the dessert comes out clean. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before serving warm, topped with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream if you like.
These cakes will keep for one day, wrapped airtight and at room temperature.
