TWD: Dimply Plum Cake

Michelle of Bake-en selected the Dimply Plum Cake for this week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe. It seemed like the perfect fall recipe with the plums, but I really wasn't sure how this was going to turn out. I mean, when I hear "cake", "plum" usually isn't in the same sentence. For me though, TWD is all about trying new things, so I decided to jump right in! I actually was a little excited though as I perused the ingredient list a little more closely. I saw that this recipe has a touch of ground cardamom. I recently bought a ton of cardamom to use in my chai tea and was glad to finally have another use for it.

This recipe was super easy to put together. Dorie does suggest using Italian prune plums if possible, but my local grocery store didn't have those today. I was just going to get some purple plums when my husband convinced me to grab a few different varieties. I grabbed some super ripe purple plums, a few red ones, and some of the new pluots (which by the way, are a cross between a plum and an apricot and are super sweet and super yum!) Since these plums were larger than the ones Dorie suggested, I could only fit 9 plum halves instead of 12. No biggie though!

I was a little worried about how this was going to turn out as I peaked into the oven 30 minutes into baking it. The cake was starting to really puff up and almost enveloped the plums! The sides were also started to brown while the middle was still nowhere near close to done. I crossed my fingers and said a little prayer to the baking fairies.

After 15 more minutes, the crust was browned all over and a toothpick in the middle came out pretty much clean. I didn't want to risk burning the top, so I pulled it out right at 45 minutes. Once I set it on the cooling rack, I was please to see all the different color variations from the different plum varieties! The bright pink ones are the pluots, the dark-colored runny ones are the super ripe purple plums, and the bland looking ones are the red plums.

After allowing the cake to cool, I sliced out a corner piece with the runny purple plum and took a bite... a bite into heaven! I loved the flavors in the cake! I could definitely taste the cardamom but only a hint of it. (By the way, I had a cup of chai tea with cardmom to drink with this -- FABULOUS!) I could also taste a hint of the orange zest which was a great compliment to the sweet/tart flavor of the warm, juicy plum. So yum! My favorite part of the cake though was something that probably wasn't supposed to be there. My cake was slightly underdone in the areas between the plums... but I didn't care! I loved the flavor even more!

I am normally satisfied with just one piece of desert, but I had to go for another. This time, I grabbed a piece with a red plum. The fruit was not as ripe so it was a little tough to cut through with just a fork, but it tasted yummy as well.

I saved one piece with the pluot for my snack tomorrow, but the rest is going to work with my husband. Dorie says this cake is just good for about 2 days, so unfortunately, I won't be able to make this one last. Oh well, it was good while I did have it! Thanks for choosing this one Michelle!

***UPDATE: I had the piece with the pluot today. It was the best by far! If I make this again, I will either make it with super ripe plums or with all pluots. Mmmm! Unfortunately though, this yummy cake didn't get such a warm reception from others. My DH took it to work but apparently very few people... like um, 2, tried it. Apparently it looked too "weird" and nobody really seemed adventurous enough to try it. Bummer! Oh well. If I make this again, I'll just cut the recipe in half and have it all to myself! Mwaaa haaa haaaaaa!