How To Screw Up A Plum Cake Recipe (I Was Able To Save It, Though)

INGREDIENTS:

10 plums

1 cup sugar (divided in half)

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 stick butter (1/2 cup)

2 eggs

1 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon salt (this is the only change I made in the recipe)

EQUIPMENT:

9″ x 9″ casserole dish (or a glass 10″ deep pie plate)

Paring knife

Kitchenaide/Mixer (a large bowl, wooden spoon and whisk will do)

Rubber scraper

OVEN TEMP:

400 Degrees

COOKING TIME:

30 Minutes

This our good friend Diana. We've known her since before Fauneil and I were married (over 10 years). She brought us some plums from her plum tree and a recipe for plum cake. This should be fun. Here we go.

First, grease and flour a 9" x 9" casserole dish, and set it aside. We'll come back to it later.

Now, let's focus on the plums. Rinse 10 of them.

Her recipe says we need to stone the plums. I had no idea what that meant, but Diana is like my wife...much more intelligent than me. They know these types of things. Anyway, I figured it meant to remove the seed, so I Googled it to make sure. Here is how to stone a plum.

Slice the plum around the center with a paring knife.

Now, pull the plum apart, like this.

Finally, remove the seed. That wasn't too hard, now was it?

Set your plums aside.

Next, throw 1/2 cup sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon into a bowl.

Mix it up and set it aside. (Geez. There is a lot of "setting aside" in this recipe.)

Take your mixing bowl and rinse it in hot water so that the butter will start to melt. (Dry it off first.)

Add 1/2 cup sugar, 1 stick softened butter and 1 large egg to your mixing bowl and mix. (Of course. What else are you going to do in a mixing bowl?). Anyway, I mixed it with this flat paddle, not the whisk.

Add another large egg.

Here I replaced the paddle with the whisk and beat in the egg.

Now pour your batter into the 9 x9 baking dish that you greased and floured earlier...OH CRAP! I forgot to add the flour. What a dork I am. I've never claimed to be an expert chef.

I dumped everything back into the mixing bowl...

washed the the baking pan...

and re-greased and re-floured it.

NOW I add 1 cup flour and 1/2 teaspoon salt.

Now mix. (Wow, that batter looks creamy!)

Spread it in the bottom of the 9 x 9 baking dish. (I feel the need to lick that rubber scraper.)

Spread your plums on the batter, skin side down, like this. (Wow! That looks pretty. This is going to be good.)

Sprinkle your cinnamon/sugar mixture on top.

Bake in the oven at 400 degrees for 30 minutes.

While it's baking, you need to lick the batter off the rubber scrapper. It is some seriously good stuff.

Dang it! McCann stole it from me. Kids, geesh!

Here is what it will look like when it is all cooked and done.

Eat and enjoy.