What I Did This Weekend - Baked!

Okay, so it doesn't surprise you that I baked this past weekend.  It was just one of those weekends.  And I needed to bake, not cook, but bake.  It's just something about baking that seems to release a different set of creative juices. 

I decided to make a plum upside-down cake.  The picture just looked sooooooooo good!  Once I got into baking it, I thought, "this is a version of a pineapple upside down cake".  A chef friend of mine says there are only so many recipes.  I guess she's right.

But whatever it is, this cake is a nice change of pace from the traditional pineapple upside cake.  If you don't want to use plums, apricots or peaches would be a nice substitution.

Plum Upside-Down Cake

Serves 8.

Ingredients:

Plum mixture:
12 Tablespoons (1½ sticks) butter, divided
¾ cup brown sugar, packed
1 Tablespoon honey
4 to 6 large plums

Cake:
1½ cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon salt
¾ cup sugar
2 large eggs
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon almond extract
½ cup milk

whipping cream or ice cream, optional

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 350°F.
2.  Melt butter in a small saucepan.  Stir in  brown sugar and honey.  Heat until sugar and honey blend in, forming a thick, smooth sauce.  Transfer to a 9-inch round cake pan with 2-inch high sides. 
3.  Cut plums in half; remove pit.  Cut in half into sixths.  Arrange plums on top of sauce in overlapping concentric circles.  Set aside.
4.  Combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a medium bowl.  Using electric mixer, beat remaining 6 tablespoons butter in a medium bowl until light.  Add sugar and beat until creamy.  Add eggs, one at a time.  Beat until light and fluffy.  Beat in extracts.  Add dry ingredients, alternately with the milk, beating until just blended.  Spoon batter evenly over plums.  Bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 1 hour.  Transfer to a cooling rack; cool in pan for 30 minutes.
5.  Using a knife, cut around pan sides to loosen cake.  Insert cake onto serving platter.  Serve warm with whipped cream or ice cream.

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