Original recipe: Alison Holst

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup toasted flaked/slivered almonds
• 850g tin Black Doris plums
• 75g butter
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/4 cup juice from the tinned plums
• 1/4 tsp almond essence
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 & 1/2 cups flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup icing sugar
• 2-3 tsp plum juice

Method

1. Preheat oven to 190°c
2. Toast almonds in either the oven for a few minutes, or in a small frying pan over medium heat.
3. Drain plums, keeping the liquid from the can.
4. Melt the butter in a large bowl. Add the egg, milk, 1/4 cup of the saved plum juice, the almond essence, and beat to combine.
5. Chop the plums roughly, then add about half of them to the liquid mixture along with the sugar, and the flour and baking powder which have been sifted together. Fold everything together until the flour is dampened, taking care not to overmix. Stop mixing while the mixture still appears rough, it shouldn’t be a smooth mixture.
6. Grease or line a 23 cm square cake tin. Spread the mixture over the bottom evenly, then arrange the remaining chopped plums evenly on top. Bake at 190°c for 35 minutes, if the cake has come away from the sides, and bounces back when touched (or a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the centre of the cake), the cake is cooked.
7. Mix the icing by beating the icing sugar with enough plum juice to make a thick cream (add 1 tsp of plum juice at a time until the desired consistency is met). Drizzles the icing over the warm cake, and then sprinkle with the toasted almonds.