I love this time of year when Seattlites enjoy the last warm days of summer yet the smell of Fall is clearly in the air. Already I am compiling a mental list of Fall-type of desserts I would like to try. Having been the lucky recipient of Italian plums from my neighbors tree, I decided to bake an Upside Down Plum Cardamom cake. I thought the cardamom would compliment the plums nicely and yet add enough spice to make this the first of many fall desserts soon to come. This cake did not disappoint and was devoured very quickly when served. If you are looking for the perfect cake to bring to a potluck, serve for dessert, or to indulge in all by yourself look no further. Enjoy!
Upside Down Plum Cardamom Coffee Cake
Adapted from Alice’s Apple Coffee Cake
INGREDIENTS FOR SAUCE:
3 tablespoons melted butter
15-18 small-medium plums such as Italian, quartered
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground cardamom
INGREDIENTS FOR CAKE:
1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 eggs
1/2 cup orange juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and line with parchment paper a 9” or 10” round tall cake pan. In a small bowl combine sauce ingredients (melted butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, and ground cardamom) and cover the base of the cake pan using a pastry brush. Starting from the outside perimeter and working your way towards the center, line your cake pan with quartered plums. CAKE: In a medium-large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light – approx. 3 minutes. Add eggs one at a time and vanilla. Gradually add cardamom, baking powder, salt, orange juice and flour. Mix well for 3 minutes scraping the sides and bottom down half way through. Add cake batter to the top of plum pan and spread the batter evenly. Bake for 1 hour or until done. When cake is done, allow the cake to sit on the countertop for 10 minutes. Loosen the sides of the pan with a knife and flip it onto a plate. Remove parchment paper. Serve warm or room temperature. Enjoy!
*Side note: A friend in my mom’s group baked this cake substituting the orange juice for apple juice and a mixture of cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice for the cardamom. I had a slice and it was superb as well!
Brown sugar cardamom sauce
Preparing the pan for plums and cake
The first row of plums being arranged so beautifully
Beautiful sliced plums waiting for batter
Spiced coffee cake batter
Upside Down Plum Cardamom Cake
This is totally delicious! My 6 year old grand daughter and I made these from my Italian plum tree. Smelled wonderful and came out beautiful! She so enjoyed seeing the design that she helped lay down with the plums.
I cannot wait to make this. I found this recipe (number one in the google search!) after reading a recipe for dimply plum cake at Smitten Kitchen. I’d have made her version except she said she had changed this recipe to remove cardamom. That’s just mad!
Fantastic job!
Just learned about your website and enjoyed your coffee cake recipes however, being unable to print them out without wasting paper and ink (14 pages) I find it very disturbing as I do not find the comments to be productive. Please, there must be a way where an individual can obtain the recipe without going through all the waste of time, etc. Thank you. PR
Your website is my new food porn.
Here’s my pic of your Plum Cardamom Coffee Cake
http://everydayfancies.blogspot.com/2010/06/and-it-goes-little-something-like-this.html
I have never seen a recipe for this, I thought my great grandmother just made it up! Lucky for me she didn’t, and I can try to recreate the masterpiece. Thanks for the recipe!
-Sylvia
Padron Cigars
Absolutely DELICIOUS! I followed your recipe and made it but with mine I added warm custard and it was fabulous.
I made this and it turned out FAB! Smelled wonderful baking and tasted even better … my husband loved it too. I used larger plums and just cut them into slices … I posted a picture (and shared your link) here:
http://paulasparadise.wordpress.com/2009/10/19/first-fall-cool-snap-plum-cake/
Thanks SO much for a recipe that is a definite new favorite … I’m sure I’ll be making this again and again!
Thanks for sharing. Cardamom has such a warm, homey flavor and scent. Perhaps I have certain feelings toward it because it’s commonly used in Scandinavian baked goods, but it does seem like a great spice to be using during this time of the year.
Absolutely Stunning! My plum tree is ripe and ready! Thanks 🙂
this looks fantastic. love the step-by-step shots
What a divine tarte tatin!!
Looks quite fabulous too!
Fab pictures,…
I bet this was amazing! I love plums….yum:)
mmmmmmmmm, I love cardamom. This sounds delicious. I’ll try it for this upcoming weekend cake?
I am thinking about fall desserts, too, I love cooking and baking this time of year!
It is also absolutely gorgeous! This looks wonderful. I really need to bake with plums next year when they are in season!
Oh, that looks scrumptious. The quintessential fall dessert. I love upside-down cakes!
Just FABULOUS Alice. Wonderful flavours & so well done! What a wonderful Sunday to have!
Looks sweet and delicious! I love cardamom, but I haven’t tried baking with plums. I need to give this a try!
So gorgeous… and it sounds absolutely perfect for fall with the cardamum.
Wow that looks so beautiful and i love the addition of cardamom.
I haven’t had breakfast yet, but when my eyes saw the first picture. It immediate gave me a growl of “I want that and nothing else”
YUmmm! Alice, you really know how to make my stomach growl even when I am full. This looks awesome!
Cardamom and plums are the perfect pairing! Looks gorgeous and I bet the smells coming out of your kitchen were outrageously good!