It’s high time I got back into the swing of things. Months have passed and I’ve made only two mediocre updates. I haven’t even been cooking or baking that much, but that’s changing starting from now! Christmas is coming, and before that in just a week from now it’s my birthday. The perfect time of year to get busy and flex one’s baking muscle! For today’s post I have made a spiced plum cake after finding some cheap organic plums for just 5kr. They were from Sweden, and I have no idea how they grew plums at this time of year, but they weren’t that special – a bit hard and not very juicy – so baking with them was a perfect idea.
I think I’ll give Swedish gingerbread a go this year, or maybe some aniseed pigs, or maybe both. Of course, I’m choosing the worst possible time of the year to make a “comeback”. It’s getting darker which doesn’t give me many opportunities for decent photography, as can no doubt be witnessed from today’s offering. Still – as I said last year – it could be worse. I could be somewhere like Tromsø, in Norway. While I’m sure it’s a lovely place, the sun rises today at 11am, and sets at 12:02pm, and it’s not even December yet. This time in a month they’ll have some perma-night going on which would make any kind of food photography absolutely impossible without some fancy equipment (of which I have none) so I should be grateful for the small things.
We’ve had a bit of snow two or three times but it all keeps melting away and yesterday was an unbelievably depressing day. Raining all day, and positive temperatures of around +3 degrees Celsius or so which made everything muddy and dirty. My car looks in a very sorry state with all the crud which sprays up off the road and there’s absolutely no point washing it until everything freezes “properly”.
My son is getting on well at kindergarten. He was terribly sad about having to go there in the beginning but now he absolutely loves it. If he’s ever unhappy you just have to mention it to him and remind him that he can go there again soon and he’s all smiles again.
Well, I’m not going to waste any more time, so I’ll jump right into the spiced plum cake now. I’ll be visiting all the sites I used to look at slowly over the coming days. Sorry I’ve missed so many of your wonderful posts – I can’t wait to catch up!
Enjoy the cake, and I’ll see you all again soon (and this time I mean it!).
Spiced Plum Cake
Ingredients
- 190 g Butter
- 190 g Caster Sugar
- 3 Eggs
- 190 g Plain Flour
- 2 tsps Baking Powder
- 3 tsps Cinnamon
- 6 Plums
Instructions
- Start off by preheating your oven to 190 degrees Celsius. Cream together the butter and sugar and then whisk together the eggs.
- Beat in the eggs bit by bit until completely combined and grease and flour a 20cm cake tin.
- Cut the plums in half and remove the pits. Arrange the plum halves flat side down in the bottom of the tin.
- Sift the flour, baking powder and cinnamon into the batter and fold in gently. Transfer the batter into the tin, covering the plums, and then place into the preheated oven.
- Bake for about 25 minutes. Before removing, check the cake is completely baked in the centre by sticking it wth a skewer and ensuring it comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven when ready and allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to allow to finish cooling.
He looks so smug with his banana. Pity the grocery store doesn’t offer free haircuts for toddlers along with (or instead of) the free fruit 😉 Nice cake — though I still can’t believe you wanted to eat it in a bowl with ice cream!
Thank you dear 🙂 Ice cream all the way though!
Who needs free haircuts for toddlers when his daddy has a pair of clippers?!
Welcome back, stranger. My goodness, it’s hard to believe how grown up William is looking. I hope he continues to love school and learning. I’m looking forward to your Swedish gingerbread post as I too want to make some simple cookies this year. No 3 dimensional gingerbread Xmas tree for me. 🙂
The plum cake looks beautiful. I used some gorgeous, sweet and ripe Italian plums this year for the first time in several recipes and I hope you get a chance to see them as you catch up with the overwhelming number of posts I’ve put on LJ. I’m particularly proud of the Plum-Raspberry Streuselkuchen which was large enough to feed an army, even though it wasn’t very elegant.
http://a-boleyn.livejournal.com/207231.html
Hi A_, thanks a lot! You know, I was thinking about making your three dimensional gingerbread tree this year. I had the dough, but in the end a lack of time, an inability to find it easily (a quick search yielded nothing) and ultimately a lack of “dedication” meant I ended up making plain cookies instead. I figured it might end up being too hard, especially since I was baking cookies with my son, and he kept ramming the cookie cutters into the already cut-out dough shapes :D.
Thanks for the streuselkeuchen tip – it looks amazing! Something to try out one day I hope.
There’s still lots of time left if you want to make it.
My post is here with the links to the pattern pieces.
http://a-boleyn.livejournal.com/120607.html
The original post I copied from is here. Just click on each page and then print out the part. Use whatever gingerbread cookie recipe you like best.
http://www.notmartha.org/archives/2012/12/10/3d-christmas-tree-gingerbread-cookies-an-update/
Without freezingtemperatures – I don’t see why you hardy voluntary Nordic types can’t manage a little barefoot photography 🙂 I have seen forecasts for snow for next week though! Glad you’re back, and really glad your recipe index has worked all along. Happy Thanksgiving.
Ha, I updated the typo now 😀 Glad you’ve been using the recipe index. I change it recently because the old version was quite resource intensive, but this new version should be better (and still just as useful hopefully).
What a lovely cake to celebrate your return to us. That’s one mighty fine looking young man you shop with. 🙂
Thanks Maureen 🙂 It’s nice to be back!
WEELLLLLCOMMMEEE BACK. I’ve been off for a while too and only just blogged, how nice to see your post appear in my feed too! The cake looks delicious! That combination of butter eggs flour is pretty much what I use for every cake, and I just vary the fruit and spices. Mine never turn out looking so beautiful though. x
Thank you Shu – it’s good to be “kind of” back. If you think this looks good, wait until you see my next offering which I’ll post… at, er, some point soon. Time… there’s never enough of it!
Welcome back, Charles. I’m glad things are going well and that you’re getting ready for Christmas. Not so sure about those short daylight hours though – very challenging for a food blogger. It’s great that Wee William is loving kindy – don’t kids grow up fast! It doesn’t seem that long ago that he was a babe in arms. Happy birthday! xx
Thanks Charlie – you know, it’s weird – I haven’t really noticed the darkness so much this year. I guess it’s because I’ve been here the whole time and it’s been so gradual… minutes slowly being shaved off each day, as opposed to coming over from France last year when it was “surprise, darkness!”.
Charles, welcome back! Glad to hear adorable William is enjoying his school. And glad to hear you’re going to get back in the groove! I love this sort of cake you’ve done–one I can feel good about eating for breakfast, too, the next day.
Thanks Jean – absolutely… the fruit on top makes it healthy 😀
Ah don’t worry Charles, I chose the worst time of the year too to come back with my blogging. you are not alone and no reason to feel guilty. I am glad to see you back in action. Definitely we don’t have the light problem here, I can’t imagine how it must be for a food blogger up north! I would make foods which can be stores, such as a lot of cookies and jams, and every day between 11 am and 12 am I would do all the shots.
I am in the mood for spiced plum cakes. The weather has gone dry and I can finally bake again!
Hi Helene, I wonder what it must be like to live on the equator… I don’t really know much about climate and geography, but do you think they get “seasons”… and I guess the days are always exactly the same length. Must be good as a food blogger if you live there, haha!
Hey! Welcome back and you sure picked the right time to return! It maybe the holidays but the horrible light situation for photography! I’m in the same position, I finally have time to spend time blogging and now my light’s gone. Oh well.
Look at cutie pie Willy! He is growing up so fast, but so cute!! Glad he’s enjoying KG. They all do after the first few fussy times.
This plum cake is gorgeous. I love fruit desserts…always find a way of throwing in fruit. So, this one is perfect for me!
Good to have you back.
Nazneen
Hi Nazneen, it was terrible in the beginning for kindergarten… so sad every day, but then one day he just started really enjoying it, and it feels so nice to be able to take him to a place he loves and actually looks forward to going to, instead of him screaming and crying and wanting to be with his mom or dad the whole time!
I guess I might buy some sort of lightbox one day… when I have more time and money… so, in about 30 years then :p
So nice to see you back, Charles! The cake looks very “five euro foody”, if I may say so 😉 and also very Swedish… (Don’t ask me why, just a feeling I have). It is so beautiful! I’m sure it is perfect for cold, dark autumn evenings.
I keep on complaining about light here, so I cannot imagine how difficult it must be to catch light at this time of the year in Northern Sweden, but you did manage with this cake! (Though I have always wanted to experience some “white” nights…).
William has changed so much! He is no longer a toddler, but a young boy. It makes me realise how long your absence is. Don’t leave us for so long! I hope I won’t be seeing William go to high school in next post 😉
Haha, there’s a bit of a way before high school thankfully 🙂
I thought of you last night… I had remembered I would make your pork with prunes, but then – I can’t remember what it was – but we ended up having a big lunch, and no time and I couldn’t in the end. I’d considered making it today, but I had gone out with William to a giant indoor playground and we’d eaten a big lunch there so I wasn’t hungry again. Hopefully I will not forget again, since I still want to give it a try soon!
What a lovely photo of your son? Can he really be old enough for kindergarten? I almost never post recipes now and don’t cook as much as I used to, although I am mad for seasonal ingredients. I would eat a slice of your plum cake and plums are not my favorite by a long shot.
Hi Sharyn, I’ve seen similar comments before when I mentioned kindergarten and I just realised now that there is actually quite a big difference between kindergarten here and in the US. Apparently children don’t start KG until the age of 5 or so in the US, while here they have the right to a certain number of free hours per week from the age of, I think, 2 years old. I think it is designed to coincide with the end of parental leave following the birth of a child (480 days paid in Sweden, which can be divided between the mother and the father) and it’s designed mainly as a way to help children develop in ways they could not at home – interaction with other children for example – as well as allowing parents to return to work.
Holidays and birthdays…no better time to start baking! And here’s an early Happy Birthday to you! Love this plum cake and I think it would make an excellent birthday cake. I enjoy cakes like this much more than the traditional bday cake. Nice shot Charles! Love the pictures of William. 🙂
Thanks MJ – I’ll be posting my birthday cake in my next post… seriously delicious so I’m looking forward to sharing that! 🙂
This cake looks good, Charles! Does one get this good overtime they take a break? I remember your comeback dish the last time (was it pizza) was super! Nice to know the kindergarten jitters left your son and is now happy to go to school 🙂 Hope to see more of you!
Julie & Alesah
Gourmet Getaways xx
Hi GG – you”ve got a good memory if you’re right… I can’t remember what my comeback dish might have been actually… it was very long ago. This was nothing compared to my next offering though. I’ll be posting my birthday cake in the coming days and that was seriously tasty!
Missed you! Welcome back Charles!!!! Thank you for stopping over to say hi too. Made my day. We don’t post near as often as we used to either. Funny how that happens. Looks like you came back with a bang though…spiced plum cake. To me, that’s the only way to eat plums (or coated in sugar, cinnamon and spices). It looks delicious and I bet your kitchen smelled fantastic!!! Happy birthday to you! I hope you have a great day and a fantastic year! William is growing up so fast! Such a cutie too. 🙂 Hope all is well. Enjoy the daylight…and I couldn’t imagine only an hour of it. Don’t think I could live in Norway. Looking forward to what you’re whipping up for the holidays. 🙂
Hi Kristy, hope you’re doing well! Seems like ages since we spoke! I hope Mike and Mr N and Miss A are all fine and looking forward to Christmas!
My birthday cake was really nice – I’ll be posting that in my next post – all of my favourite things… chocolate, cream, raspberries… yum!
Don’t think I could live in Norway either… too many Norwegians; guess it’s good I’m in Sweden after all (sorry, couldn’t resist :D). Only 5 days from Lucia day here (not sure if you remember I wrote a post about it last year or the year before) and so I should get my Lucia baking done soon – saffron buns! 🙂
Ah, I just realised that your comment about Norway might have been referring to my mention of Tromsø, and not that maybe you’d forgotten where I lived, which is what I was jokingly alluding to – sorry! 🙂
I’m happy to see another post from you and what a lovely plum cake you have shared with us. I’m so glad that you included a photo of William along with your cake. I think we kind of think of him as “our little boy” as we have watched him grow. I’m happy that he is enjoying kindergarten…I think it is good for children to have interaction with others their same age. Enjoy your birthday tomorrow.
Hi Karen, thanks so much! I think it’s sweet that all my readers have been able to see William grow – I was just looking at the first post I made about him earlier today and he was SO TINY! Can’t believe how much he’s changed, and yet still looks a bit like the baby he was!
Welcome back )
Thanks Marianna 🙂 When can I expect to see regular updates on your site again? 🙁
I have great recipes for both ginger snaps and soft ginger cake (bundt cake?). Let me know if you want the recipe.
For the best result, the dough for the ginger snaps needs to be made now and left to rest for two weeks or so.
Hi Jessica, I would LOVE the recipe for ginger snaps – now would be the perfect time to make the dough! I have posted a recipe for soft ginger cake … last year I think it was, which I really enjoyed, so I think I should be good for that… now that I live in Sweden I finally bought a bundt pan as well so I can make it in the traditional shape!
I’ll send you a message in the next day or so.
Do you want the recipe translated from swedish to english?
Nää, på svenska ska bli nog bra, tack 🙂
Charles – welcome back (again) – Love cinnamon and plums – and love how they seem to work so well in this cake – it’s gorgeous! I once had someone give me a plum cake that they made with 2 jars of baby food pureed plums …that was one interesting take on plum cake!
I am glad you nor I live in Tromsø – I don’t think I would be ok with 1 hour of sunlight! Now I could do 1 hour of darkness – but gah – no sunlight is scary!
Your son is adorable!
Haha, that made me think of our shopping trip the other day… even though William is 2 now we decided to buy some puréed carrots and corn in order to mix it up with a tomato sauce to try and trick him into eating a few more diverse foods :p
Happy Birthday! When is it? Your son is very handsome…so cute!
I wonder my husband’s niece is doing with so little day light over there.
The cake looks really nice. I think you did a great job with photographs.
Hi Nipponnin – thanks a lot! My birthday was on the 3rd, although we had the cake party yesterday on the 7th :). The cake was great – I will post it next time 🙂
For the photos of my recent cake I have to go outside and put the cake on a little ledge… quickly photograph it and then run inside before I freeze – haha 😀
Such a beautiful treat and a great way to use sub-standard fruit. Can’t wait to see your baking recipes. this year, the gingerbread looked great on face book. BTW, a small but hilarious typo when you’re talking about how little daylight you get and how difficult ‘foot photography’ is !????
Haha, what the hell… I’m normally so careful with my proof-reading! Thanks for spotting it Eva 🙂
Wait until you see what I post next… now that was seriously nice!