Stone Fruit Yogurt Cake, with Plums

I don't make this cake often enough, but when I do, I'm reminded of how perfect it is for using a glut of late summer or early autumn fruit. In this case it was some yellow plums from my mother's tree which needed to be eaten as soon as possible. As their arrival coincided with a lull in the recents weeks of frenetic activity, and I no longer have to worry about CT not liking fresh fruit, it seemed an ideal opportunity to return to this cake.

By the way, I'm ashamed to say that I was too wrapped up in getting my mother to and from hospital, as well as moving CT into his new flat over the last weekend, that I didn't have time to bake him a 'Good-bye' cake! He had to make do with a 'reduced to clear' chocolate croissant from Tesco's. (It was very tasty though!) He still has to return to sort and pack more books, and pick up the rest of his clothes, so I think a batch of something chocolate-y to take back with him will be in order.

But back to the Stone Fruit Yogurt Cake! This is another of Dan Lepard's recipes, from his Guardian column. Considering it's popularity among bloggers, it's quite a surprise that this recipe didn't make it into his recipe book 'Short and Sweet'.

I've previously made it using peaches and raspberries, but almost any fresh fruit can be used successfully. It's a very tender cake, not too sweet and subtly flavoured with lemon zest. The fruit, their juices and the extra sugar combine to make a soft, slightly sticky topping when the cake is turned out. It can be eaten both as a cake and a dessert, in which case a spoonful (or two) of creme fraiche is a good accompniment

I used just over half a kilo of plums, with 225g chopped for the cake, and the rest sliced and arranged neatly in the base of the tin. I only had two lemons, but this was enough to give a gentle lemon flavour to the cake batter. It's really important to line the cake tin with a leak-proof liner so that the juices aren't lost during cooking. This time I succeeded with the tin foil, as suggested, but the crumpled foil doesn't make for a very neat cake when it's turned out. This might be a case for a pre-formed cake tin liner, although I usually begrudge spending money on this sort of thing!

I'm really pleased I remembered this cake - it was an excellent way to use the plums, and made a change from the usual quick crumbles which I tend to make with fresh fruit.

Hopefully I'm now back into baking mode, as life can slow down a little now that CT is into his own place. There's still work to do there, which he will need help with, but all the really urgent tasks have been done. Thank goodness - we both need some rest before we tackle changing his room here into our new bedroom!