Bake of the week: Caramelised plum upside-down cake

Faiza Hayani Bellili’s mouthwatering recipe comes from the Hubb Community Kitchen’s charity cookbook.

Faiza, who volunteers to cook recipes from her homeland Algeria, says: “This cake is one my mum used to make. She always said plums are an unreliable fruit – they can be quite sour when raw. This brings out the best in them.” Enjoy…

You’ll need

1 tsp sunflower oil, for greasing

300g granulated sugar

100g unsalted butter, very soft

½ tsp vanilla extract

¼ tsp salt

8 plums, halved and stoned

40g dark brown soft sugar

2 eggs, beaten

25g cornflour

50g ground almonds

100g plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

Method

Preheat oven to 170°C. Grease cake tin with the sunflower oil and place on a baking sheet.

For the caramel, put 225g of the sugar into a small, wide, heavy pan on a low heat. Let the sugar dissolve completely. Once liquid, let it gently bubble for 15–20 minutes.

Add 10g of the butter, half the vanilla extract and the salt, gently swirling the pan. Once incorporated, remove from the heat and pour the caramel into the cake tin. Place the plum halves on top, cut side down, nestled tightly together, and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the remaining butter together with the remaining granulated sugar and the brown sugar until pale and creamy.

Add the eggs one at a time, beating well.

Add the remaining vanilla extract, the cornflour, ground almonds, flour and baking powder to the bowl and fold through with a metal spoon until just combined, then pour over the plums. Smooth over the top, then bake for 40–45 minutes until cooked through.

Transfer the cake to a wire rack and leave to cool in the tin for five minutes before turning out on to a serving plate. To do this, put the serving plate on top of the tin and flip over before releasing the sides of the tin and removing the base. Let the cake cool for a further five minutes before slicing.

Together: Our Community Cookbook, Ebury Press, £9.99. Picture: Jenny Zarins