Plum | Aapplemint

Plum Frangipani Tart

Aug 292012

As a kid I never liked plums, they’re sour, tangy and why would I want to torture my myself for that little bit of sweet flesh within. Just not worth it. But as I grew older, with my fathers persistence and evolving taste buds, I began to accept the fruit. Not that I’m crazy about plums, but when in season I do have some. The past two days have been very gloomy and the rains have been pouring like there’s no tomorrow. Weather like this either makes you want to eat or sleep. So yesterday my friend invited me to her place for some hot tea (which is perfect in this weather) and steaming hot Sabudana Wada’s ( sago and potato croquets) and also to see the new furniture she had bought. She just renewed the entire dining area with beautiful oak furniture pieces. The dining table could easily sits six people and on the walls there were matching oak drawers that would be perfect for buffets. You can click here to get an idea of the type of furniture I’m talking about. And as usual I found myself wandering into her kitchen and rummaging her fridge. That’s when I saw a lovely bowl of plums sitting right in front of me and realised the season has slipped by n I still haven’t eaten any plums. So this afternoon, I ran to the market hoping I’d get some, and lucky I was. The fruit vendor said, there were the last of the season. On my way back I already knew what I wanted to make. My Plum Pistachio n Cardamon Cake is usually a safe bet and always turns out great. Today I wanted Tart. A nice frangipani filled centre with these sweet and tangy plums on top. Just make sure the plums aren’t too tart and if they are toss them in Vanilla Sugar and leave them till they turn sweet.

For the tart shell use this recipe. It makes 2 tart shells of 13″ X 4″

For the filling

170 gms Almonds ( blanched, dried and ground to a fine paste )

150 gms caster sugar

150 gms butter (softened to room temperature )

2 medium sized eggs

7-8 plums stoned and sliced

3 tablespoons vanilla sugar

Start with getting the tart shells ready. You could do this a day before. For the filling, blanch the almonds, remove the skin, dry the nuts and grind them. Beat together the icing sugar and butter till light and airy. Add the ground almonds and the eggs one by one. Give the mixture a good mix and put it in the fridge to cool for about 30 mins. In the mean time, stone the plums, slice them and toss them in Vanilla sugar. This should take away the tartness.

Preheat the oven to 160C. Spoon the filling into the tart shells evenly and arrange the plums on top. Bake for about 40 mins. Thesides should be golden and centre should be set , but if its slightly wobbly don’t worry, it will firm up on cooling. Garnish with some slivers of pistachio and serve with some lovely vanilla ice-cream.

Plum Pistachio n Cardamon Cake

All, Baking 57 Responses »

Jun 302008

My last post on Aloe Vera, was as much of a learning experience for me as it was of sharing. Unfortunately for me, soon after I posted the Aloe post, I had an accident. A jug of boiling water blasted on my right leg, scalding my skin off, and burning me very badly. I was immediately rushed to the doc, who gave me a shot on my butt and a whole lot of medicines to ease the pain. I suffered for 2 days, wondering how was I ever going to wear a bikini again, and how ugly my thigh looks and whether it would ever look normal again. Then I opened my mail box to authorize the comments on the Aloe post, and what i read changed my life. Its something i was aware of, but never did, as i never needed to so far. I read how everyone uses Aloe Vera and keep it in their kitchen to heal their burns. And how miraculously it has helped so many, and healed them, leaving no scar at all. I ran straight for my plant and started applying it 3-4 times daily. Let me tell you dear friends, it’s a miracle from God. Its working like no other medicine would. I’m much better now, with 80% of the burns healed, just need to get rid of the scar. So for all of you little angles who left those comments on my blog, thank you so much. I now encourage everyone to have one Aloe plant in their house. Its a must !!!

And now for my cake today. This is a Plum, Pistachio and Cardamon Cake. Absolutely divine in flavour. Took it for a friends Sunday lunch party and it dissapeared in just a few seconds. The Cardamon really takes this cake into another level. Its soft, the plums make it moist and slightly tart at the same time, tastes very rich due to the ground pistachio and the cardamon makes it very festive. I used very ripe plums, so they were more on the sweet side than sour.

Ingredients

8 ripe plums
75 gms ground pistachios
175 gms self raising flour
175 gms softened butter
175 gms fine sugar
3 eggs
8-10 pods of cardamon

Line your cake tin, and preheat the oven to 180 C.
Wash the plums and cut them in quaters. Dry grind the pistachios, leaving a few behind to use for garnishing. Mix the sifted Self raising flour, butter, sugar, eggs, pistachio pd and cardamon in a bowl. Beat with your electric beater for about 3 minutes, adding a few drops of milk if the consistency is too thick. Now gently mix in the plums and pour the batter into the cake tin. Level it well and garnish with some sliced pistachios. Bake for about 30-40 mins, till skewer comes out clean. Let it cool down, and then dust it with icing sugar. This cake tastes wonderful warm, and best at room temperature.

And last but not the least we have a winner for the pay it forward. Dana Wilson of Vanilla Basil. Congratulations, you should be getting your parcel this week. I also decided to pay it forward to Jaden of Steamy Kitchen. Actually its more of an exchange as shes sending me a wonderful Vietnamese Coffee Press, yay … i cannot wait. So the next time you get paid forward, do spread the love around.

Yellow Plum and Mint Cheesecake with Almond Mascarpone.

All, Dessert 12 Responses »

Aug 082007

I had never in my life seen yellow plums, and so when i saw these in the fruit section of the supermarket i had to buy them. They had a lovely light delicate scent, a thin but very sour skin and a sweet juicy pulp. I ate a few and then began staring at the remaining 8 pieces. Now what do i do with these … obviously a voice inside me was screaming dessert … ! Not sure what i was going to do, i started with cutting the plums and poured some honey over it and cooking them gently for 4-5 mins. It caramalize the plums giving it a rich golden brown colour and a lovely fragrance. I tasted it … arrg it was too damn sour, so i threw in a few mint leaves ( yes i plucked them frm my garden )) while it was still hot hoping it would help. But it was still too sour, so added 2 tbs of sugar. Still sour, but better. At this point only one thing was going through my mind.This has to be turned into a cheesecake. Only the cheese n cream will balance out the sweet n sour of the plums – and so i got to it. Whisked up the cream with a tbsp of caster sugar just till it was holding shape. Beat in the mascarpone and a tsp of almond syrup. Crushed digestive biscuits with my fingers as i wanted them to be coarse, i like a bit of crunch. Mixed in a bit of melted butter and pressed it down in the glass and chilled it a for a while. The rest is a piece of cake ) pun intended . Mascarpone /plums/mascarpone/some more plums/garnish of mint leaves….Tada ! Dessert is ready. Don’t know how it tastes though. They’re chilling off in the fridge, will have them only after dinner. Keep u posted on how it turned out.

Ingredients

serves 2 – in glasses

6 yellow plums
1 tbsp natural honey
2 tbsp sugar for the plums
1 tbsp caster sugar for the cream
4 tbsp whipping cream
2 tbsp mascarpone cheese
1 tsp almond syrup or a few drops of extract
2 digestive biscuits
2 tsp melted butter
a few leaves of mint

* update :- i ate one and shared the other one with a friend, who said ” he’d never eaten anything like this before ! i should start selling this stuff here .” haha no i’m not bragging , seriously he wiped the glass clean and even ate the garnish. I’m glad it turned out gr8. In fact i’m having some guests over tomorrow for dinner. I just might repeat these