Plum Teacake

This is a twist on a favourite recipe of mine that uses tinned pie apples. Its so easy to keep a big tin of fruit in the pantry, the left overs of which are lovely to eat on breakfast cereal or with ice cream. The colour and fragrance of this teacake is delicious and lends itself very well to girlie tea parties.

180g butter, softened

0.5 cup brown sugar

3 eggs, beaten

zest of 1 lemon

1 cup SR flour

0.5 cup wholemeal flour

0.5 tsp ground cinnamon

0.5 cup milk

1 large can tinned plums

0.25 tsp allspice

1 Tbs brown sugar, extra

0.25 cup flaked almonds

Preheat oven to 180•C. Grease a spingform cake tin and line the base with paper.

Cream the butter and sugar well until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each is added. Mix in the lemon zest. Using a metal spoon, fold in the sifted flours and cinnamon alternately with the milk. Stir until just combined and almost smooth. 

Spoon half the mixture into the tin and top with the tinned plums, halving each and removing the seed, until the mixture is covered with a single layer of plum halves. Spread the rest of the cake mixture over the plums. Then combine the slice almonds, extra brown sugar and allspice in a small bowl and sprinkle over the cake.

Bake for 1 hour or until a skewer comes out clean - check carefully that the centre of the cake is cooked as it may need an extra 8-10 minutes. Turn off the oven and leave the cake inside until you're ready to serve it as its lovely warm and particularly indulgent when served with cream.