Fruit For Plum Cake

Our answer

Nigella's Winter Plum Cake (from HOW TO BE A DOMESTIC GODDESS) is an almond enriched sponge cake that is studded with drained, tinned (canned) plums. It is given the name "winter" as it uses tinned fruit so it can be made out of season, but it would be possible to use fresh plums in season.

You would need to cook fresh plums a little first, especially if they are very hard specimens. Cooking the plums also helps to soften the skins, which can become a little tough if baked straight into a cake. As tinned plums are usually poached first you can do this yourself in a simple syrup made up of equal quantities of sugar and water. Halve and pit the plums and poach them in the gently simmering syrup for 4-5 minutes, or until just softening. Alternatively sprinkle the halved and pitted plums with a little sugar and roast in a 200c/180c Fan/400F oven for 10-15 minutes, until the plums are softened but not collapsing. A drained 570g tin of plums yields about 300g of fruit when drained, so we suggest using 300g of cooked plums. But please note that as we have not tried the cake with fresh plums, we are unable to guarantee the results.