Recipe Remix: The Plum Torte
Don't skip from peaches to apples. Plums need love and this cake wins hearts.
I love creating my own recipes, but I also love making others' recipes. When I find a recipe that entices me, I try my best to follow the instructions and make it exactly as written. The first time. No substitutions. If the recipe is a gem, then I start to riff on it. I remix the recipe.
What is a "recipe remix"? In this series, I make someone else's recipe, but put my own spin on it. I don't change the recipe enough to call it my own. I may add a different topping, use a different shape, change up a filling, or swap out some ingredients. I want to pay homage to the original, but show you how I play with my food.
In this episode, I have the perfect easy cake to make this weekend.
Justice for Plums
Plums are severely underrated. Everyone fawns over peaches in late summer, then they hop right to apples in early fall. I scream, "But what about the plums?!" With such a diversity of plum varieties, they are way more interesting than peaches. From big juicy round red plums to little golden yellow plums to the deep purple oval plums of my dreams. (Last week I devoured a pint of little "cotton candy plums" over-the-sink style. Thes plums were so sweet that I did a double-take.) Plums have sweet flesh and tart skin. When cooked, those flavors mingle creating the perfect balance of sweetness and mouth-watering tang.
For this cake, I suggest seeking out some of these the little dark-purple, oval-shaped, freestone plums. You'll see them under many names: Zwetschgen (as the Germans call them), prune plums, or Italian prune plums. I've seen them at farmers' markets in Chicago and farm stands in Michigan labeled as: Italian Plums, Castleton, Stanley, Empress, and a few other names.
Even if the plum seems firm and dry, don't worry, they will be perfect for this torte. I like to use smaller-sized plums for the torte, because you can pack more in, which means more pockets of fruity goodness. In addition to the farmers’ market, I can find Italian Prune plums at my local grocery store here from late August through late September.
The Plum Torte
Like many other people, I must make Marian Burros's Plum Torte every year. Usually more than once. It's one of the most beloved recipes from New York Times, and for good reason. Some even call it the "original viral recipe." Every time I've made this cake or brought it to a gathering, people devour it quickly—the truest sign of a keeper. It's simplicity makes it a great recipe to remix. The New York Times even remixed it a few times.
If you haven't made the original, go do it. This dessert won't impress with its looks, but take one bite and you understand why it's famous. It's a buttery, golden brown cake, a bit crunchy at the edges but soft in the middle with pools of tangy, jammy plums.
The Plum Torte is basically a simple butter cake, equal parts (-ish) butter, sugar, eggs, and flour plus baking powder and a pinch of salt. It's a Victoria Sponge with some plums stuck in it, so it's easy to riff on.
I remixed The Torte with my signature buckwheat hazelnut cake, plus some goodies added crunch. The earthiness of the buckwheat and hazelnut flours add so much complexity (with very little effort) to this otherwise simple cake. The whole buckwheat groats and nuts sink down a bit in the cake, but they still serve texture for days.
This remix happens to be gluten free. You can get buckwheat flour, hazelnut flour, and buckwheat groats from Bob’s Red Mill online or at many grocery stores. You could make this dairy-free by swapping out the butter for Miyoko Creamery's Unsalted Plant Milk Butter, which is my favorite non-dairy substitute for butter, because it actually has a flavor.
Buckwheat and Hazelnut Plum Torte
Adapted from Marian Burros's Plum Torte in the New York Times.
115 g (1/2 cup) butter, room temperature
150 g (3/4 cup) sugar
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
80 g buckwheat flour
80 g hazelnut flour*
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 Tablespoons buckwheat groats
1/4 cup hazelnuts, coarsely chopped
2 Tablespoons turbinado sugar
About 8-12 small plums (see above for a treatise on plums)
Butter a 9-inch round springform pan (or cake pan) and line the bottom with a round of parchment paper. Heat the oven to 350F with a rack in the middle of the oven.
Cut the plums in half and remove the pits.
Using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fit with the paddle, cream together the butter, sugar, and salt until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Scrape the bowl, then add the eggs, one at a time, while beating. Then add the vanilla extract and beat for about 30 seconds more.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the buckwheat flour, hazelnut flour, and baking powder. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and beat until well mixed. Since there these flours don’t contain gluten, you don’t have to worry about over-mixing the batter. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and smooth the top. Place the plum halves on top of the batter, skin-side up, trying to fit as many as you can, without letting them touch each other. (See the photo above for an example.)
Sprinkle the top of the torte with chopped hazelnuts, buckwheat groats, and turbinado sugar, in that order.
Bake the cake for 50-60 minutes at 350F. In my tests it cooked the full 60 minutes. It should be deeply golden brown. Start checking the cake at 45 minutes. Because of the buckwheat flour, it will look darker than a cake made with regular all-purpose wheat flour. If it smells burnt, take it out. I like my torte well cooked, because the crunchy, caramelized edges are the best part. The plums keep the cake moist, so you don’t need to worry about it drying out.
Take the torte out of the oven and let it cool completely. If you used a springform pan, let the cake sit for 10 minutes, then run an offset spatula around the sides of the pan and release the outside ring. Once the cake is totally cool, place a plate or a cooling rack on top of the cake, flip it over, and remove the parchment paper. Invert it onto the serving plate, so that it's right side up.
This torte has the best texture on the day it's made, but still tastes great the second day. I suggest making it in the morning or early afternoon for an evening dessert.
If you have whipped cream, that's the ideal accompaniment. A scoop of vanilla ice cream never hurts, either.
*If you don't have hazelnut flour/meal, you can make your own by adding the same weight of hazelnuts (80g) to the bowl of a food processor along with the buckwheat flour and baking powder. Pulse until the hazelnuts are finely ground, but stop before the hazelnuts turn into hazelnut butter.
Happy baking,
Martin
I’ll have to try this version. I just made “the torte” today but with peaches. First time this year!