Upside Down Plum Cake (Conventional and Thermomix Version)

When plums are in glut this is one of my favourite cakes to make every year. The combination of sweet honey and rosewater marry perfectly with the tart plums. It is an adapted recipe from Vogue Entertaining magazine autumn 2003.

Ingredients

185g butter

400g castor sugar (or regular

sugar if you have a Thermomix)

1 tabs of honey

6 large plums eg blood plums stoned 

and sliced lengthwise into sixths

2 large eggs

2 teas rose water

185g self raising flour

1/2 cup milk

Preheat your oven to 180C

Conventional Method

Put half the butter and half the sugar and honey into a saucepan and stir over a low heat till the butter melts and makes like a sauce with the sugar.

Pour this into the bottom of a 23cm/9" cake tin (preferably not a springform as it may leak during cooking)

place the cut plums on top making an outer circle and then one inside that.

Cream the remaining butter and sugar, add one egg at a time beating well then the rosewater. 

Add the flour and milk alternately and when mixed pour over the plum slices. 

Bake for about an hour till a skewer comes out clean

(pretty standard huh, that's what is good about this cake)

Let it cool for half an hour and the sides tend to shrink away from the tin but if unsure run a knife around before inverting onto a plate.

Thermomix Method

Place half the sugar in the Thermomix and process 3 seconds on speed 9.

Add half the butter and a tab of honey 

1.5 mins, 50C, speed 3

Pour this sauce over the bottom of a 23cm'9" cake tin

arrange plum slices on top as in attractive circles working from the outside in.

No need to wash the Thermomix

Place the remaining sugar in and process to castor as before 

Add the butter and blend 3 secs speed 5-6

Add the eggs, flour, milk and rosewater

Blend on speed 5-6 for 30secs

Pour on top of the plum slices.

Bake for about an hour till a skewer comes out cleanly.

Let it cool for half an hour and the sides tend to shrink away from the tin but if unsure run a knife around before inverting onto a plate.

You must use butter and nothing will substitute or you will have an inferior result, it really is king in this recipe. You could use vanilla essence instead of the rosewater but hey, you bought a bottle of it for that other recipe so you might as well use it up! If you don't have rosewater go and buy some. It's great to have in the cupboard and really turns a milk pudding into a panna cotta. This year I used ginger honey but if you are a leatherwood honey fan you'll enjoy that instead. Oh the combination possibilities!