Plum Torte

This was really good. And very pretty. You can tell we liked it by how much is gone in the photo! It fed us for 2 days. Shared some with my neighbor who also really liked it. Give it a try with plums or experiment with other fruits. Adapted from a David Lebovitz's adaptation of a recipe from Marion Burros.

Plum Torte

Minimal ingredients and pretty easy to make. You can make it in any baking type pan from 8" to 10" in diameter.
I used red and yellow plums because it was what I had on hand. My plums were pretty tart, which went quite well with the sweet cake.

3/4 cup sugar, plus about 1T to sprinkle on the torte before baking
1/2 cup room temperature butter, unsalted (room temperature is very important so it creams well with the sugar, don't melt it though)
1 cup flour (I just used regular unbleached, you can try other flours, what I've read about the recipe is that it is very amenable to tweaks and changes)
1 t baking powder
pinch of salt
2 large eggs, at room temperature and lightly beaten
about 6 larger plums, halved and pitted (the idea is to have the cake dotted with fruit, so use more if your plumbs are small)lemon juice 
ground cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter your dish or pan. I used an oval baking dish.

Beat the sugar and butter until light and creamy. This was the step I found a little challenging. I didn't want to get out my mixer and thought I could do it with my whisk, what a mess. Next time, I'll either get it out for this step, or use a fork to blend it. 

In another bowl mix the flour, baking soda, and salt together. Add the flour mixture and eggs to the butter/sugar mixture and mix until smooth. Don't over mix.  This will come out pretty thick and you'll have to pat it or spread it into your baking dish.  Put the plum halves, cut side down, over the batter and press them down slightly. Sprinkle the lemon juice on top and then the sugar and cinnamon.

Bake until it is browned in the center and slightly pulled away from the sides. Mine took about 40 minutes. But it could take up to 60 minutes. Remove from the oven. Serve it warm or at room temperature with ice cream or whipped cream, or maybe a bit of plain regular yogurt  I kept it for 2 days at room temperature with no loss of flavor.