Plum cake (aka Gâteau de genévrier based on Clotilde Dusoulier's Gâteau de Mamy)

I love, love, love upside down cake.  I found this looking for a pear cake, but didn't make it until plums were in season.  It is my new favorite cake.  The pictures are Juniper's.

Gâteau de Mamy recipe (from http://chocolateandzucchini.com): 

Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Butter a non-stick 9-inch cake pan or springform.

• 150g of sugar // 3/4 cup
• 125g of butter // 1 stick + 1 TB (original recipe calls for unsalted ("beurre doux") but here I used half unsalted, half salted ("beurre salé") and I liked it.)
• 80g of flour // ~ 9/16 cup (optional: substitute 20g of powdered almonds for 20g of flour)
• 2 eggs
• 5g baking powder // 1 1/4 tsp
• 4 large or 6 small apples (or pears, apricots, plums...)
• optional: vanilla in batter
• optional: spices appropriate to the fruit, cinnamon with apples, etc.

Steps:

Melt butter, set aside to cool.

Cut up the fruit. Lay the pieces of fruit at the bottom of the pan. This recipe works with a variety of fruit: apples, apricots, plums... If using a really juicy fruit, mix in some flour or cornstarch. if using a really tart fruit, mix in some sugar. If adding spices to the fruit, mix in now.

Mix sugar with two eggs. If you are adding vanilla to the batter, add it now.

Mix flour and baking powder together (I sift them together, but it isn't necessary), then add to the sugar/eggs and mix.

Add the butter, mix.

Make sure you added the butter, you would be shocked how many times people (including me) forget to add the butter.

Pour/nudge the dough over the fruit in the pan, and bake for 40 to 60 minutes.

Insert a knife or toothpick to test for doneness.

Let the cake settle for a few minutes or overnight.

If you want an upside-down cake:

Invert it on a plate (the fruit side will be on top), scrape the bits of fruit that may stick at the bottom of the pan and place those bits evenly on the inverted cake.

If you want a right-side-up cake:

Use a second plate to invert the cake again (the fruit side will then be at the bottom). Sometimes with a springform pan and fruit that isn't too delicate, you can slide it off the pan onto a plate, but it rarely works.

 

Pour the dough on the fruit in the pan,



and bake for 40 to 50 minutes.

Let the cake settle for a few minutes. Invert it on a plate (the fruit side will be on top), scrape the bits of fruit that may stick at the bottom of the pan and place those bits evenly on the inverted cake. Use a second plate to invert the cake again (the fruit side will then be at the bottom).

The resulting cake is golden, incredibly moist, light and fruity, with a slightly crusty edge, and it is very hard to stop at just one slice. But if you do and there are leftovers, your reward will be that this cake is even better the next day...

Right out of the oven: 



After a few minutes, it pulls away from the edge of the pan:



Turn it out of the pan:



Then turn it over, so the fruit is on the bottom again:



Then eat it:

Dazy Donut Maker

The joys of childhood, the DAZY DONUT MAKER . . . back when children were trusted with hot, sharp, and otherwise dangerous items.

Thanks to ebay, I am happy to announce the triumphant return of the DAZY DONUT MAKER!!! (we got two so that I can give one to my sister, but I had to test it first.)

Recently we had apple donuts and they were delish, so I was thinking fruit donuts. However, when the Dazys arrived I had an abundance of plums, so I made plum donuts.

I didn't put enough butter in this one, so it stuck. For the next batch, I used a silicone "brush" to brush butter on the top as well as the bottom).

The next batch were perfect.

Today's garden haul

We've learned alot this year. We will definitely plant earlier next year. Today, I brought in a few tomatoes, an onion, a yellow squash, peppers, green beans, and I thinned the carrots.