Plum and almond cake

Well, I was really popular today at work, thanks to Shaheen at Allotment to Kitchen's yummy plum cake recipe.

The plums into the allotment have all been ripening over the past week or so. It's my first year of getting plums so is quite exciting. I bought the tree from QD for about £6 about 3 years ago. It's tap root had been cut off to fit in the pot so I didn't expect that much from it but lo and behold it's been worth the wait. It's a variety called opal.

So looking for plum recipes I had a search of Shaheen's blog and this one caught my eye. Jan helped make it and we were also making plum chutney at the same time.

The recipe is nice and easy, just remember you need to allow time for your butter to have softened first. Here's the pre-baked mixture - you put in half, layer out half the plums, add the rest of the mixture then put the rest of the plums on.

And the finished result! The cake mixture rises up to cover the top plums. It took a little bit longer to bake than in the recipe but things seem to always do that with our oven. I might also put flaked almonds on another time (I love almonds).

The cake didn't last very long, my hungry colleagues devoured it in few minutes and people were rushing from all over the office to get a bit!

This recipe is definitely a keeper!

 

 

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Harvest Monday (just)

This is my first 'harvest Monday' post...lots of people share what they've picked on a Monday. I had today off work so seemed like a good day to do it but am a little late in the evening as had a friend round for tea (two types of curry made all with home grown produce). Anyway, so a quick post of what I picked from the allotment today....I hadn't been since Thursday.

Plums are windfalls, not that ripe, lots of cucumbers and gherkins and some courgettes. Loads of beans. One crystal lemon cucumber. Apple windfalls. Blackberries (both have gone into stewed fruit concoction with gooseberries from the freezer). There weren't as many blackberries as I thought there'd be and quite a few are spoiling before ripening due to the heavy rain over the past few days. Onions are from the shed at the allot where I have them drying off and just bring a few home at a time to use. Doesn't include the toms for the greenhouse at home.

Been windy today with a thunder storm this evening and even some hail! My plants are looking a bit battered but hopefully will pick up again.

Well, a brief post from me but it's getting late zzzz. Linking through to Harvest Monday on Daphne's Dandelions.