Petite Whole Wheat Plum Cakes … getting stoned this summer
“What is more mortifying than to feel that you have missed the plum for want of courage to shake the tree?”
Logan Pearsall Smith
Petite Whole Wheat Plum Cakes … some desserts are so homey and comforting that they hit the right spot. These little cakes fell straight into that category. Simple, earthy, flavourful and above all whole grain. Nothing spectacular to look at, so I didn’t take many photographs. I didn’t have the time too. A few clicks and we all dived in!
Dorie Greenspans Baking With Julia that sweet Suma gifted me is a book I often leaf through. For inspiration, for entertainment, for sheer reading pleasure, the book works every time. There were some oven roasted plum cakes that have inspired mine.
It isn’t easy to hide my love for stone fruits every summer. Peaches, plums, mangoes, cherries … they charm, then entice, they leap off the shelves at the bazaar, they beg me to take them home. We chomp a few, then toss plenty into smoothies. Summer also means fro yo to tease our palettes, and fruit salads that play with our senses. All light & refreshing!!
Abundance of fresh seasonal produce makes summer more than worthwhile. So much so that just turning the oven on in this blistering heat to see stone fruit juices bubble over is a delight. A virtual treat. I often wait with bated breath for ‘the moment’. The juices ooze over and run down the sides. Baking nirvana. Small things, immense pleasure!
These petite whole wheat plum cakes turned out to be hidden gems. Quite unassuming in appearance, yet packed with flavour and texture, the lad immediately asked if he could have another!
A drizzle of low-fat unsweetened cream added to the deliciousness. Alternatively, you could always try some vanilla ice cream or custard on the side.
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Summary: Petite Whole Wheat Plum Cakes … some desserts are so homey and comforting that they hit the right spot. These little cakes fell straight into that category. Simple, earthy, flavourful and above all whole grain. Nothing spectacular to look at yet very delicious! Adapted from Baking With Julia by Dorie Greenspan.
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes
Ingredients:
- 100g butter, room temperature,
- 100g brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 4-5 drops almond extract
- 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
- 50g almond meal
- 3/4 tsp baking soda
- 50ml buttermilk
- 5-6 plums, halved
- Low fat cream or ice cream to serve
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 190C. Lightly grease 10-12 individual muffin tins, or ramekins.
- Beat butter and brown sugar until light and mousse like.
- Add eggs, vanilla extract and almond extract and beat again.
- On low-speed add both flours and baking soda and mix.
- Fold in the buttermilk.
- Divide batter between prepared tins. Top each with half a pitted plum, cut side up.
- Place on a baking sheet and bake at 190C for about 35 minutes / until done.
- Leave to cool in tins.
- Loosen edges with a butter knife and turn out on serving platter. Serve with a drizzle of low at cream or vanilla ice cream.
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Deeba @ PAB
About me: I am a freelance food writer, recipe developer and photographer. Food is my passion - baking, cooking, developing recipes, making recipes healthier, using fresh seasonal produce and local products, keeping a check on my carbon footprint and being a responsible foodie! I enjoy food styling, food photography, recipe development and product reviews. I express this through my food photographs which I style and the recipes I blog. My strength lies in 'Doing Food From Scratch'; it must taste as good as it looks, and be healthy too. Baking in India, often my biggest challenge is the non-availability of baking ingredients, and this has now become a platform to get creative on. I enjoy cooking immensely as well.
14 Comments
Delishhh
I have tons of plums sitting at home wondering what i should do with them…gorgeous, great idea.
Barbara @ Barbara Bakes
I’d love to dive right in to these too. How great that they’re whole wheat too.
Namita
Hi Deeba, Thank You for sharing such a wonderful recipe. I am a big fan of fruity bakes and addition of whole wheat makes it really special and it also wipes out to some extent the subtle guilt that comes with cakes due to butter that we cannot do without. Few days back I baked Dimply Plum Cake, a recipe from Smitten kitchen. Now will have to hunt for Plums to try out this one!
chinmayie @ love food eat
This recipe sounds wonderful! I am trying it without eggs (i am sure flax seed powder will be a great alternative) before the plums disappear from the market 🙂
ketan
Oh this is making me hungry!Deeba you are going to be largely responsible if i have an early onset of diabetes!!Lol..just joking!
Love you story telling manner, and the pictures!!!! WOW!!! Beautiful styling, excellent compositions and DOFs. What gear (silly question) do you use?
Sofia D.
You have very good quality plums! looks so juicy and fresh. 🙂
Whole wheat in baking cakes is form me something new. 😉
Sofia D.
You have very good quality plums! look so juicy and fresh. 🙂
Whole wheat in baking cakes is form me something new. 😉
Nisha
Oh wow.
Apart from this plum cake, that collage of 16 photos is definitely ‘teasing my palette’!! 😉
Sylvie @ Gourmande in the Kitchen
Beautiful and so perfectly presented, I would have been diving in right away too!
Meera
Deeba,
Considering that i love plums and they are in abundance currently in Doha, i am very eager to make these. Although i have a question – Is the whole wheat flour that you use in this recipe Indian Atta?
i’m sorry for the silly question but i really hope you can respond..the plums beckon me…
Cheers
Deeba @ PAB
Hi Meera, yes I use Indian aata, stone ground whole wheat flour. How wonderful that plums are abundant in Doha. I was thinking of making these again tonight. Good luck to you!
Edna
This looks so tasty! Works good with vanilla ice creams, I’ve tried it 😉