Dimply Plum Cake

Rebekka has convinced me to add something to this blog. Here is a recipe I took from Reija's blog, Vegetable Tuesdays. Since I have not consulted either of the sources Reija cites, I have (re)written the recipe as I made it.

Dimply Plum Cake

The plums need to be quite small in order to fit them four across as described. Smitten Kitchen says you can use apricots or other stone fruits also and mix up the zest and the spices and whatever so maybe I will try making a pear or a cherry cake some time just for kicks. 

Originally from Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home To Yours, by way of Smitten Kitchen:

http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/08/dimply-plum-cake/

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 C. all-purpose flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

5 T. unsalted butter, at room temperature

3/4 C. (packed) light brown sugar

2 large eggs

1/3 cup canola oil

generous 1/4 t. orange oil

1 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

8 purple or red plums (or even Italian prune plums, halved and pitted

DIRECTIONS:

1. Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter an 8-inch square baking pan, dust the inside with flour, tap out the excess and put the pan on a baking sheet.

2. Whisk the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon together.

3. Working with a mixer, beat the butter at medium speed until it’s soft and creamy, about 3 minutes. Add the sugar and beat for another 3 minutes, then add the eggs, one at a time, and beat for a minute after each egg goes in. Still working on medium speed, beat in the oil, zest and vanilla; the batter will look smooth and creamy, almost satiny.

4. Removing the mixer, add the dry ingredients in thirds, mixing in by hand until they are incorporated.

5. Run a spatula around the bowl and under the batter, just to make sure there are no dry spots, then scrape the batter into the pan and smooth the top. Arrange the plums cut side up in the batter–Dorie says she usually makes four rows of four plum halves each–jiggling the plums a tad just so they settle comfortably into the batter.

6. Bake for about 30 to 40 minutes, or until the top is honey brown and puffed around the plums and a thin knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Transfer the cake to a rack and cool for 15 minutes during which time the plums juices will seep back into the cake then run a knife around the sides of the pan and unmold the cake. Invert and cool right side up. (Being a casual person, I did not unmold the cake.)

7. Optional: Dust the top with powdered sugar. (The plums dissolve the sugar, but it remains on the cake, making it speckly white.)

Note: You can wrap the cake and keep it at room temperature for up to 2 days, during which time it will get softer and moister.

"Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through."

— Ira Glass (from PBS's This American Life)

I am fighting, fighting, fighting. Someday I won't be disappointed anymore. If I live that long. I got started way too late in life. (If you don't count all of the quilting, cake decorating, cooking, baking, and silk flower arranging I've done over the years. Not to mention the 80+ art gallery shows I've arranged and hung.)

I need to tell you that I finished the hats! Along the way I acquired a collection of small end pieces. I figured that when I got to the end of the project I would use the ends in the final hat. I made Hat #50 and still had pieces left. I made another hat. Those pieces were going farther than I anticipated! So I made one more hat, which finished the odd ends I had collected, for a total of 52. I finished the last one on April 7th and gave the last lot of hats away on April 8. With them all given away, I am really and truly finished with the project. If you want to see them, go to: http://picasaweb.google.com/jcmatheson/The50HatsOfPhilanthropistSteetORTheFiftyNiftyKnittedCapsOfSteetyPeety

Hoo boy. I just realized today that I am waaaay behiind with my hat production this year. I somehow forgot that I was supposed to be making 2 a month and started to think that one per month was my quota. That means I have about 20 left to make this year, if I want to reach my goal of 50 hats in two years. I don't think I can manage it. I will extend the time frame by another year, unless something happens to set me up to make a lot of hats in a short time.

I didn't mention in my last post that the reason Ephram had his wisdom teeth out was for his mission application. The dentist wouldn't sign off without doing it. And now Ephram has his call. He is going to the Ghana Cape Coast mission. He enters the Ghana MTC on August 21st. We are excited. I feel that the assignment is perfect. He will speak English, but otherwise he will be in a world completely different than anything he has known. He will be great.

I just remembered I had this site sometime last week. I have been so busy in the meantime with holidays and the start of the new year, which brings catching up with a lot of other work done on the computer that I clean forgot about this site. I guess I will need to start posting to it again.

Ephram had his wisdom teeth out this morning. I need to stick around to nurse him for the rest of the day. He took a sedative, so he is out of it. Ephram should sleep most of the rest of the day. I almost feel bad that I will need to rouse him to change cold packs, gauze compresses in his mouth, and to have him take pain medications.

a new day?

The US has elected a totem, a symbol for its President. I have felt for many, many months now that Barack Obama's biggest asset in this election was his black skin. In a time when many Americans felt like their nation has done so many things wrong: the war in Iraq, the failed economy which is bringing down the world economy--the one thing the little man could do "right" would be to elect a black man President, thus putting behind, once and for all, the national disgrace, the national shame, of racism. The little man might be racist in his behavior, but he could say to himself that he was not--"I voted for a black man for President, didn't I?" No matter what anyone says, I believe that many whites voted for Obama because he was black more than because of what he said.